Twice during the research, the sessions almost went out of control because of the anger of the young people. When they met the police representative one of the young women stood up and threatened him, asking if he was carrying weapons, and for an instant no one knew what was going to happen. Violence did not occur, perhaps because the young women's anger was linked with the theme of defence of family relationships or a positive identity. But when the young men meet Sam Ramsden, the youth campaigner who has described them to the media as homeless, an explosion of anger takes over the group. This anger is different; it is not linked to defending a positive identity, but to an identity constructed within an imagery of death and contamination. This anger is completely dissociated from the positive identities of class consciousness, pointing instead to a crisis of social creativity.

Anger is a critical part of the struggle of social movements, from anger at the treatment of women to the way work is organised. But social movements are able to transform anger into social relationship – they are able to conflictualise this anger, to turn it into a social conflict. They can do this because they can link anger to an expression of creativity, to a positive identity. A social movement is not created through the simple experience of being dominated: to turn an experience of domination into a conflict, the social actor has to be able to produce a positive identity to be affirmed, celebrated and defended.