The Guardian Angels: crime, citizenship, and “popular neoliberalism” in crisis-era New York City

MERTON, JOE

Abstract

Recent historical scholarship has begun to explore the agency of grassroots actors in the ascent of neoliberalism in late twentieth century New York, uncovering a history of neoliberalism “from the bottom up”. This article builds upon this scholarship by addressing the work of the Guardian Angels, an anticrime patrol group of black and Latino youths led by Curtis Sliwa, in developing a form of “popular neoliberalism” in 1970s and 1980s New York which complemented emergent approaches to crime, policing and urban citizenship while connecting with the histories and everyday experiences of ordinary residents. Providing a closer reading of the ideological content of the group’s activism and its wider public reception and dissemination within a context of high crime and municipal austerity, dysfunction, and neglect, it argues that the Angels and their patrols performed important ideological work: normalizing the pivot to private and voluntarist initiative in the resolution of social problems, and enfranchising new ideas integral to neoliberal governance and governmentality on the ground. Overlooked in the scholarship on New York’s neoliberal turn, the Guardian Angels serve to illustrate the extent of popular participation, even validation of New York’s late twentieth century transformation.

Citation

MERTON, J. (in press). The Guardian Angels: crime, citizenship, and “popular neoliberalism” in crisis-era New York City. Journal of Social History,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 26, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 27, 2025
• Print ISSN: 0022-4529
• Electronic ISSN: 1527-1897
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/45859082
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/jsh