Jeff Ferrell – Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy (2001)

With Tearing Down the Streets, American sociologist and criminologist Jeff Ferrell published a work in 2001 that is exemplary of Cultural CriminologyA perspective that studies crime and control as cultural products shaped by meaning, emotion, and symbolism.. In this book, Ferrell examines how urban spaces are transformed into zones of conflict through practices like graffiti, skateboarding, and punk music—spaces where state control, economic interests, and subcultural resistance collide. The book serves both as an analytical study and as an autobiographical account: As a participant observer, Ferrell documents his own experiences on the streets—an approach characteristic of his entire body of work.

Ferrell is known for pursuing exceptional ethnographic research projects. His work focuses on socially marginalized yet culturally expressive practices—such as graffiti writers, dumpster divers, urban drifters, or subcultural communities. His close proximity to the subjects of his research allows him to deeply explore the lived realities of deviant actors—without romanticizing or criminalizing them.

Key Points

Urban Space as a Site of Social Struggle

At the heart of Tearing Down the Streets is the observation that cities are constructed not only architecturally but also normatively. Urban order is enforced through policing, surveillance, media campaigns, and urban revitalization measures (e.g., gentrification)—often under the banners of Zero Tolerance or Broken Windows. This “clean city” policy displaces poverty and subculture and simultaneously criminalizes everyday practices that do not fit into the image of the neoliberal city.

Ferrell argues that these practices are far from meaningless or destructive: they represent subversive appropriations through which marginalized groups reclaim space and visibility. Graffiti becomes a form of visual protest, skateboarding reinterprets urban functionality, and punk music serves as sonic resistance to the commercialization of public space.

Theoretical Framework

Ferrell’s analysis stands within a tradition of critical cultural sociology. At its core is the idea that cultural expressions—such as graffiti or music—are not merely symbolic but embedded in social conflict. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu, Ferrell analyzes urban order as a form of symbolic violence, stabilized through spatial control, class exclusion, and media-based criminalization.

He also references Michel de Certeau’s concept of “tactics”—everyday practices by which people creatively subvert imposed structures. Space is not merely physical but a social field of power. Urban resistance is thus expressed in the everyday—visible, loud, defiant.

Methodology: Participant Observation as Epistemological Path

Tearing Down the Streets is not just a theoretical text—it is also an autoethnographic journal. Ferrell shares personal experiences as a graffiti writer, street musician, or protest participant. His research is shaped by proximity and subjectivity—deliberately distancing itself from the supposedly “neutral” stance of classical social science.

This approach makes the book especially powerful, though it raises questions: To what extent is Ferrell’s perspective representative? Where is the line between analysis and advocacy? Within Cultural Criminology, this subjectivity is not seen as a flaw but as an epistemological strength: Knowledge emerges through participation.

Relevance for Criminology

Tearing Down the Streets is a key work in Cultural Criminology. Ferrell succeeds in framing crime as cultural practice—beyond legal definitions. The book provides crucial insights for:

• analyzing urban criminalization (e.g., of homeless people, youth, graffiti writers)
• critiquing spatial policing strategies (e.g., Zero Tolerance, hot spot policing)
• researching forms of resistance in public space
• debating the legitimate appropriation of urban resources

In the context of segregation, exclusion, and urban criminology, Ferrell’s approach gains relevance: The city becomes a mirror of social power structures—and a potential site of their disruption.

Criticism and Reception

The book has been widely received and included in many academic curricula. It is praised for its blend of theory and experience, vivid language, and critical perspective on security and order policies. Some critique its subject-centered narrative, which may limit generalizability.

Nevertheless, Tearing Down the Streets is now considered a seminal contribution to critical criminology and a precursor to current studies on the criminalization of urban poverty, police repression, and urban resistance.

Conclusion

Tearing Down the Streets is more than a research study—it is a powerful testimony of participatory criminology. Ferrell demonstrates that urban deviance is not simply rule-breaking, but cultural expression, political articulation, and social protest. Anyone seeking to understand the relationship between the city, power, and crime will find a radical but insightful perspective in this work.

Applying Jeff Ferrell’s Cultural Criminology Beyond the U.S. Context

1. The Cultural Specificity of U.S. Urbanism

Ferrell’s analyses—especially in Tearing Down the Streets—are deeply rooted in the urban landscapes of American metropolises. Regulatory frameworks such as “No Trespassing,” “No Loitering,” and “Anti-Graffiti” zones reflect a highly codified use of public space. These practices illustrate a social climate centered on property rights, surveillance, and exclusion—reinforced by legal doctrines, aggressive policing, and a commodified urban order.

2. Global Resonance and Criminological Relevance

While these dynamics are shaped by U.S.-specific legal and cultural traditions, Ferrell’s work offers broad relevance for criminological and urban research worldwide. Key themes—such as the criminalization of marginality, the symbolic construction of urban order, and the subcultural appropriation of space—resonate across various national and urban contexts. Many cities around the world face similar challenges:

• The policing and surveillance of public space
• GentrificationA process of urban renewal where affluent populations move into historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, often displacing longtime residents.-driven displacement and exclusion
• The stigmatization of homeless people, youth, or street artists
• Debates over safety, visibility, and the right to the city

In this light, Ferrell’s insights can be productively applied to analyze how urban control and resistance are enacted—not only in the U.S., but in diverse local settings shaped by specific cultural and political conditions.

3. Methodological and Theoretical Contributions

Ferrell’s approach is significant beyond its original context. His ethnographic sensitivity, his theorization of deviance as cultural expression, and his reflections on space, power, and resistance continue to influence critical criminology, urban sociology, and cultural studies internationally.

Scholars around the world have built on these foundations—combining Ferrell’s perspective with local empirical research to examine the politics of space, informal economies, and everyday acts of resistance in urban life.

As Ferrell demonstrates, the city is shaped not only by mechanisms of exclusion and discipline, but also by creative responses from below. The table below contrasts dominant instruments of control with everyday practices of resistance.

Instruments of Urban Control	Forms of Subcultural Resistance
Surveillance (CCTV, policing, monitoring)	Spatial evasion, anonymity, tactical mobility
Anti-homeless architecture and exclusion zones	Reclaiming space through occupation and presence
Zero Tolerance policies and legal ordinances	Rule-bending practices like graffiti and street performance
Commercialization and privatization of public space	Informal economies, DIY culture, unsanctioned use
Symbolic criminalization via media and politics	Subcultural re-signification and identity assertion

Conclusion

Although Ferrell’s work is grounded in a specific cultural setting, its analytic potential is far-reaching. Understanding the city as a contested space—where visibility, legitimacy, and control are constantly negotiated—offers valuable insights into contemporary urban governance and subcultural resistance.

Engaging with Ferrell’s cultural criminology means reading urban space as a field of power and struggle, and asking how similar dynamics of exclusion, control, and deviance unfold elsewhere—sometimes more bureaucratically, more subtly, or legally masked, but no less consequential.

References

• Ferrell, Jeff (1993): Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
• Ferrell, Jeff (2001): Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy. New York: Palgrave.
• Ferrell, Jeff (2006): Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging. New York: NYU Press.
• Ferrell, Jeff / Hayward, Keith / Young, Jock (2008): Cultural Criminology: An Invitation. London: SAGE.
• Snyder, Gregory J. (2009): Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York’s Urban Underground. New York: NYU Press.
• de Certeau, Michel (1984): The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Bourdieu, Pierre (1991): Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Lefebvre, Henri (1996): Writings on Cities. Oxford: Blackwell.

Video

A lecture by Jeff Ferrell on his research perspective is available on YouTube.