9、Classical music and social control
Twilight of the yobs
Jan 6th 2005 From The Economist print edition
How classical music helps keep order
THE question of how to control yobbish behaviour troubles many. One increasingly popular solution is classical music, which is apparently painful to teenage ears. Co-op, a chain of grocery stores, is experimenting with playing classical music outside its shops, to stop youths from hanging around and intimidating customers. It seems to work well. Staff have a remote control and “can turn the music on if there’s a situation developing and they need to disperse people”, says Steve Broughton of Co-op.
The most extensive use of aural policing so far, though, has been in underground stations. Six stops on the Tyneside Metro currently pump out Haydn and Mozart to deter vandals and loiterers, and the scheme has been so successful that it has spawned imitators. After a pilot at Elm Park station on the London Underground, classical music now fills 30 other stations on the network. The most effective deterrents, according to a spokesman for Transport for London, are anything sung by Pavarotti or written by Mozart.
When selecting a record to drive people away, the key factor, according to Adrian North, a psychologist at Leicester University who researches links between music and behaviour, is its unfamiliarity. When the targets are unused to strings and woodwind, Mozart will be sufficient. But for the more musically literate vandal, an atonal barrage probably works better. Mr North tried tormenting Leicester’s students with what he describes as “computer-game music” in the union bar. It cleared the place.
If, however, the aim is not to disperse people but to calm them down, anything unfamiliar or challenging is probably best avoided. At the Royal Bolton Hospital, staff have begun playing classical music in the accident and emergency (A&E) ward, as well as in the eye ward and the main reception area. Janet Hackin, a matron in the A&E ward, says that patients do appear calmer, “rather than running around anxious and bleeding all over the place”. But classical music might not have much effect on the consequences of more liberal licensing laws. “If they’re stone drunk and past it then it doesn’t have much effect,” confirms Ms Hackin.
9、如何管理混混行为的问题可是难倒了很多人。有种越来越受欢迎的做法，就是用古典音乐，显然，这对青少年来说是很难接受的。一家名为Co-op的连锁杂货店，正在尝试在店外播放古典音乐来阻止年轻人在附近晃来晃去、威胁到顾客的安全。好像还很奏效。员工手持遥控器，并且 “可以在状况出现、需要疏散人群时打开音乐”，Co-op的Steve Broughton说。
不过，迄今为止听觉维持治安得到的最系统应用，是在地铁站。如今Tyneside Metro有6站播放海顿和莫扎特的乐曲来阻止那些故意破坏和游手好闲的人，这个方案还真的很成功，以致于还出现了很多模仿者。London Underground在Elm Park站首先采用之后，如今余下的30站的广播里都飘扬着古典音乐。据伦敦交通部门发言人称，威慑最有效的要数由帕瓦罗蒂演唱、或是莫扎特写的作品。
根据莱斯特大学研究音乐和行为之间联系的心理学家Adrian North的理论，在选择驱散人群的唱片时，关键要考虑其生疏性。如果目标受众是不熟悉弦乐和木管乐的人，莫扎特的乐曲就足够了。不过对那些在音乐上有点儿修养的坏蛋来说，不成调调连珠炮似的乐曲就会更奏效。Mr North试着在学校酒吧以被他称为“电脑游戏音乐”的乐曲折磨莱斯特的学生们。酒吧内的学生顿时一扫而光。
然而，如果目标不是驱散人群，而是要让人们镇静下来，那么最好要避免播放生疏或具有挑战性的音乐了。在皇家波尔顿医院(Royal Bolton Hospital)，员工们已经开始在意外及突发事件(急诊)病房播放古典乐曲，同时，也在眼科病房及主接待区播放。急诊病房的一位护士长Janet Hackin说，病人们确实显得更加镇定了，“而不是在充满焦虑和流血的环境里四处乱转”。可是，古典音乐对于酒类专卖法令不断放开的结果却可能没什么作用。Ms Hackin证实道，“要是他们酩酊大醉，已经不醒人事了，那可就没什么效果了。”
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