___________ showed that the 'crowd' and the 'mob were not made up of anarchic hooligans out to destroy society. Instead, they too had a ‘moral economy’.

John Breuilly Keith Hopkins E. P. Thomson Karl Marx

E. P. Thomson

Scholars influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx offered a different view of violent collective action. Historians like E. P. Thompson showed that the ‘crowd’ and the ‘mob’ were not made up of anarchic hooligans out to destroy society. Instead, they too had a ‘moral economy’. In other words they have their own shared understanding of right and wrong that informed their actions. Their research showed that poor people in urban areas had good reasons for protesting. They often resorted to public protest because they had no other way of expressing their anger and resentment against deprivation.