Focusing on the everyday behaviour of people in the late-Victorian street, this volume provides an alternative history of the modern city and sheds new light on the relationship between police constables and civilians. Using a theoretical framework from the sociological school of symbolic interactionism, the author explores human behaviour as a 'performance' or 'presentation of the self' and demonstrates that it is often dependent on situational rather than socioeconomic status. A wealth of source material, such as trial reports, internal documents from the London police forces and autobiographical material from the poorer classes is scrutinised to explore public interaction in the capital. And, by examining neighbourhood relations, public house fraternising, pedestrian behaviour and public self-presentation, Peter Andersson provides a vivid picture of the urban dweller at the centre of this urban history.

Focusing on the everyday behaviour of people in the late-Victorian street, this extensive study provides an alternative history of the modern city, and sheds new light on the relationship between police constables and civilians. A wealth of source material is scrutinised to explore this public interaction in the capital.