From Identity to Interaction

This chapter introduces the Elaborated Social Identity Model (ESIM) as an advance on the Social Identity Model (SIM), extending its focus from shared social identities to the dynamic interplay between crowds and authorities. Developed through empirical studies in the late 1980s and 1990s, ESIM shows that public order outcomes are not predetermined by who is in the crowd but shaped by how crowds are treated. Power, legitimacy, and intergroup interaction can transform identities in real time, influencing whether events escalate or remain peaceful. Landmark studies of the 1988 Westminster Bridge protest and the 1990 anti-poll tax riot revealed how indiscriminate or coercive policing – rooted in classical assumptions – turned peaceful assemblies into confrontations. By presuming disorder stems from violent minorities, traditional risk models often create self-fulfilling prophecies. ESIM instead highlights dialogue, facilitation, and proportionate, differentiated tactics that sustain legitimacy and enable crowd self-regulation. This chapter also examines Police Support Unit officers’ perspectives, showing how classical ideas still underpin indiscriminate interventions. ESIM is presented as both a theoretical breakthrough and a practical framework for evidence-based policing, reconceptualising public order management as enabling collective action. It sets the stage for the next chapter, which compares ESIM with alternative approaches.