Dr John Drury

Biography

I completed my first degree at the University of Sussex, and my MSc and PhD at the University of Exeter. I have also studied and worked at the University of Amsterdam, the University of Abertay Dundee, and the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. I came back to Sussex in 1998, where I am currently Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology.

Role

I am Deputy Chair of the Exam Board and convenor for the following modules: Psychology of Collective Action; Social Research Methods in Psychology; Discourse Analysis for Psychology. I am also the UCU rep for Psychology.

Community and Business

My work on mass emergency behaviour has been used by the emergency services, the Department of Health, and Birmingham Resilience. I convene a module on the Psychology of Crowd Safety Management for music event safety professionals at Bucks New University. I have also worked with arts and theatre groups, social media businesses and community organizations, including Fabrica Gallery, NixonMcInnes, Club Penguin and the Bank of Ideas. For further details of my Community and Business links, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/affiliates/panic/applications.html

The core of my research interests is crowd psychology. Specifically, my research work focuses on the following: (1) collective action participation as a source of psychological transformation, including politicisation, empowerment and wellbeing; (2) collective resilience in mass emergencies and disasters; (3) cognitive, behavioural and emotional reactions to situations of crowding; (4) the practical and political implications of pathologizing (versus liberatory) discursive constructions of crowds. For details of recent grants and research projects, see my research pages:

'The crowd' project: Sussex Psychology research showcase

ESRC-funded mass emergency behaviour project

Leverhulme-funded project on representations of mass emergencies

Recent publications

Drury, J., Novelli, D., & Stott, C. (in press). Psychological disaster myths in the perception and management of mass emergencies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 

Carter, H., Drury, J., Amlot, R., Rubin, G. J., & Williams, R. (in press). Perceived responder legitimacy and group identification predict cooperation and compliance in a mass decontamination field exercise. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Evripidou, A., & Drury, J. (in press). ‘This is the time of tension’: Collective action and subjective power in the Greek anti-austerity movement. Contention.

Carter, H., Drury, J., Rubin, G. J., Williams, R., & Amlot, R. (2013). Communication during mass casualty decontamination: Highlighting the gaps. International Journal of Emergency Services, 2(1), 29-48. DOI 10.1108/IJES-06-2012-0026

Carter, H., Drury, J., Rubin, G. J., Williams, R., & Amlot, R. (2013). The effect of communication on anxiety and compliance during mass decontamination. Disaster Prevention and Management, 22(2), 132–147. DOI 10.1108/09653561311325280

Cocking, C., & Drury, J. (2013). Talking about Hillsborough: ‘Panic’ as discourse in survivors’ accounts of the 1989 football stadium disaster. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology DOI: 10.1002/casp.2153

Drury, J., Novelli, D., & Stott, C. (2013). Representing crowd behaviour in emergency planning guidance: ‘Mass panic’ or collective resilience?. Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses, 1(1), 18–37. doi.org/10.1080/21693293.2013.765740

Drury, J., & Stott, C. (Eds.) (2013). Crowds in the 21^st century: Perspectives from contemporary social science. London: Routledge.

Drury, J. (2013). Crowd psychology. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology. New York: Springer.

Carter, H., Drury, J., Rubin, G. J., Williams, R., & Amlot, R. (2012). Public experiences of mass casualty decontamination. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, 10(3), 280-289. DOI: 10.

Drury, J. (2012). Prejudice is about politics: A collective action perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35 (6), 20-21 doi:10.1017/S0140525X12001173

Drury, J., Kemp, V., Newman, J., Novelli, D., Doyle, C., Walter, D., & Williams, R. (2012). Psychosocial care for persons affected by emergencies and major incidents: A Delphi study to determine the needs of professional first responders for education, training and support. Emergency Medicine Journal. doi:10.1136/emermed-2012-201632

Drury, J., & Williams, R. (2012). Children and young people who are refugees, internally displaced persons or victims or perpetrators of war, mass violence and terrorism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25(4), 277-284.

Ball, R., & Drury, J. (2012). Representing the riots: The (mis)use of figures to sustain ideological explanation. Radical Statistics, 106, 4-21.

Stott, C., Drury, J., & Reicher, S. (2012). From ‘prejudice’ to collective action. In J. Dixon and M. Levine (Eds.), Beyond prejudice: Extending the social psychology of conflict, inequality and social change (pp. 286-303). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Brown, R., de Visser, R., Dittmar, H., Drury, J., Farsides, T., Jessop, D., & Sparks, P. (2012). Social psychology and policy-making: Past neglect, future promise. Public Policy Research, 18(4), 227-234. doi/10.1111/j.1744-540X.2012.00670.x/pdf

Drury, J. (2012). Collective resilience in mass emergencies and disasters: A social identity model. In J. Jetten, C. Haslam, & S. A. Haslam (Eds.), The social cure: Identity, health, and well-being (pp. 195-215).Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Drury, J., & Stott, C. (2011). Contextualizing the crowd in contemporary social science. Contemporary Social Science, 6(3), 1-15. Doi:10.1080/21582041.2011.625626 

Williams, R., & Drury, J. (2011). Personal and collective psychosocial resilience: Implications for children, young people and their families involved in war and disasters. In D. T. Cook & J. Wall (Eds.), Children and armed conflict: Cross-disciplinary investigations (pp. 57-75). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Drury, J., & Novelli, D. (2011). Collective joy and the power of the crowd: A social psychological perspective on Melanie Manchot’s exhibition ‘Gathering’. Brighton: Fabrica Gallery.

Drury. J., & Reicher, S. (2010). Crowd control: How we avoid mass panic.  Scientific American Mind, November/December 2010, 58-65.

Reicher, S., & Drury, J. (2011). Collective identity, political participation and the making of the social self. In A. Azzi, X. Chryssochoou, B. Klandermans, & B. Simon (Eds.), Identity and participation in culturally diverse societies: A multidisciplinary perspective (pp. 158-176). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

See also my pages at ResearcherID , Google Scholar and 'Social Psychology Network' 

I teach on the following modules:

• Discourse Analysis for Psychology (M-level option)
• Psychology of Collective Action (Year 3 option)
• Philosophy of Psychology (Year 3 core module)
• Social Research Methods in Psychology (Year 2 core module)
• Social Psychology (Year 2 core module)

I currently supervise four PhD students and a number of undergraduate and Masters project students.

Student Consultation

Summer vacation:

by appointment

Cocking, Chris and Drury, John (2013) Talking about Hillsborough: 'panic' as discourse in survivors' accounts of the 1989 football stadium disaster. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. n/a-n/a. ISSN 1052-9284

Drury, John, Novelli, David and Stott, Clifford (2013) Representing crowd behaviour in emergency planning guidance: 'mass panic' or collective resilience? Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses, 1 (1). pp. 18-37. ISSN 2169-3293

Drury, John and Stott, Clifford, eds. (2013) Crowds in the 21st century: perspectives from contemporary social science. Contemporary Issues in Social Science . Routledge, London. ISBN 9780415635905

Carter, Holly, Drury, John, Rubin, G James, Williams, Richard and Amlot, Richard (2013) The effect of communication during mass decontamination. Disaster Prevention and Management, 22 (2). pp. 132-147. ISSN 0965-3562

Carter, Holly, Drury, John, Rubin, G James, Williams, Richard and Amlôt, Richard (2012) Public communication needs during incidents involving emergency decontamination. Lancet, 380 (S3). S28. ISSN 0140-6736

Drury, John, Kemp, Verity, Newman, Jonathan, Novelli, David, Doyle, Christopher, Walter, Darren and Williams, Richard (2012) Psychosocial care for persons affected by emergencies and major incidents: a Delphi study to determine the needs of professional first responders for education, training and support. Emergency Medicine Journal. ISSN 1472-0205

Carter, Holly, Drury, John, Rubin, G James, Williams, Richard and Amlôt, Richard (2012) Public experiences of mass casualty decontamination. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, 10 (3). pp. 280-289. ISSN 1538-7135

Drury, John and Williams, Richard (2012) Children and young people who are refugees, internally displaced persons or victims or perpetrators of war, mass violence and terrorism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25 (4). pp. 277-284. ISSN 0951-7367

Drury, John, Reicher, Steve and Stott, Clifford (2012) The psychology of collective action: crowds and change. In: Culture and social change: transforming society through the power of ideas. Advances in cultural psychology: constructing human development . Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC, pp. 19-38. ISBN 9781617357589

Stott, Clifford, Drury, John and Reicher, Stephen (2012) From prejudice to collective action. In: Beyond Prejudice: Extending the Social Psychology of Conflict, Inequality and Social Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 286-303. ISBN 9780521198165

Drury, John (2012) Collective resilience in mass emergencies and disasters: A social identity model. In: The social cure: identity, health and well-being. Psychology Press, Hove; New York, pp. 195-215. ISBN 9781848720213

Drury, John (2012) Prejudice is about politics: a collective action perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35 (6). pp. 20-21. ISSN 0140-525X

Ball, Roger and Drury, John (2012) Representing the riots: the (mis)use of statistics to sustain ideological explanation. Radical Statistics, 106. pp. 4-21. ISSN 0268-6376

Brown, Rupert, deVisser, Richard, Dittmar, Helga, Drury, John, Farsides, Tom, Jessop, Donna and Sparks, Paul (2012) Social psychology and policy-making: past neglect, future promise. Public Policy Research, 18 (4). pp. 227-234. ISSN 1744-5396

Drury, John, Reicher, Steve and Stott, Clifford (2012) The psychology of collective action: crowds and change. In: Culture and social change: transforming society through the power of ideas. Advances in cultural psychology . Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, N.C.. ISBN 9781617357589

Drury, John and Stott, Clifford (2011) Contextualizing the crowd in contemporary social science. Contemporary Social Science, 6 (3). pp. 276-288.

Williams, Richard and Drury, John (2011) Personal and collective psychosocial resilience: Implications for children, young people and their families involved in war and disasters. In: Children and armed conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 57-75. ISBN 9780230274433

Drury, John and Reicher, Stephen D (2010) Crowd control. Scientific American Mind (21). pp. 58-65. ISSN 1555-2284

Novelli, David, Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (2010) Come together: two studies concerning the impact of group relations on personal space. British Journal of Social Psychology, 49 (2). pp. 223-236. ISSN 0144-6665

Williams, Richard and Drury, John (2010) The Nature of Psychosocial Resilience and its Significance for Managing Mass Emergencies, Disasters and Terrorism. In: Rebuilding sustainable communities for children and their families after disasters : a global survey. Cambridge Scholars, pp. 121-148. ISBN 9786612588112

Drury, John (2010) Identity Dynamics in Adolescent-adult Communication. In: The Dynamics of Intergroup Communication. Language in social life series, 8 . Peter Lang, New York, pp. 53-64. ISBN 9781433103971

Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (2009) Collective psychological empowerment as a model of social change: researching crowds and power. Journal of Social Issues, 65 (4). pp. 707-725. ISSN 0022-4537

Singh, Harmeet, Arter, Robyn, Dodd, Louise, Langston, Paul, Lester, Edward and Drury, John (2009) Modelling subgroup behaviour in crowd dynamics DEM simulation. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 33 (12). pp. 4408-4423. ISSN 0307-904X

Drury, John, Cocking, Chris and Reicher, Steve (2009) Everyone for themselves? A comparative study of crowd solidarity among emergency survivors. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48 (3). pp. 487-506. ISSN 0144-6665

Barr, Dermot and Drury, John (2009) Activist Identity as a Motivational Resource: Dynamics of (Dis)empowerment at the G8 Direct Actions, Gleneagles, 2005. Social Movement Studies, 8 (3). 243 - 260. ISSN 1474-2837

Drury, John, Cocking, Chris, Reicher, Steve, Burton, Andy, Schofield, Damian, Hardwick, Andrew, Graham, Danielle and Langston, Paul (2009) Cooperation versus competition in a mass emergency evacuation: a new laboratory simulation and a new theoretical model. Behavior Research Methods, 41 (3). pp. 957-970. ISSN 1554-3528

Williams, Richard and Drury, John (2009) Psychosocial resilience and its influence on managing mass emergencies and disasters. Psychiatry, 8 (8). pp. 293-296. ISSN 1476-1793

Smith, Alastair, James, Christopher, Jones, Richard, Langston, Paul, Lester, Edward and Drury, John (2009) Modelling contra-flow in crowd dynamics DEM simulation. Safety Science, 47 (3). pp. 395-404. ISSN 0925-7535

Drury, John, Cocking, Chris and Reicher, Steve (2009) The Nature of Collective Resilience: Survivor Reactions to the 2005 London Bombings. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 27 (1). pp. 66-95. ISSN 0280-7270

Cocking, Chris, Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (2009) The psychology of crowd behaviour in emergency evacuations: Results from two interview studies and implications for the Fire & Rescue Services. Irish Journal of Psychology, 30 (1-2). pp. 64-73. ISSN 0303-3910

Drury, John and Cocking, Chris (2008) The mass psychology of disasters and emergency evacuations: A research report and implications for the Fire and Rescue Service. Fire Safety, Technology and Management, 10. pp. 13-19.

Drury, John, Cocking, Chris, Beale, Joseph, Hanson, Charlotte and Rapley, Faye (2005) The phenomenology of empowerment in collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44 (3). pp. 309-328. ISSN 0144-6665

Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (2005) Explaining enduring empowerment: A comparative study of collective action and psychological outcomes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35 (1). pp. 35-58. ISSN 0046-2772

Drury, John (2005) Young people's communication with adults in the institutional order. In: Talking Adolescence: Perspectives on communication in the teenage years. Language As Social Action, 3 . Peter Lang, pp. 229-243. ISBN 9780820470979

Drury, John (2004) No need to panic. Psychologist, 17 (3). pp. 118-119. ISSN 0952-8229

Cocking, Chris and Drury, John (2004) Generalization of efficacy as a function of collective action and intergroup relations: Involvement in an anti-roads struggle. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34 (2). pp. 417-444.

Willig, Carla and Drury, John (2004) `Acting with': Partisan participant observation as a social-practice basis for shared knowing. In: Collaborative Practice in Psychology and Therapy. Haworth Press, pp. 229-241.

Stott, Clifford and Drury, John (2004) The importance of social structure and social interaction in stereotype consensus and content: Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? European Journal of Social Psychology, 34 (1). pp. 11-23. ISSN 0046-2772

Drury, John (2003) Adolescent communication with adults in authority. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 22 (1 ). pp. 66-73. ISSN 0261-927X

Drury, John (2003) From alienation to self-objectification: The phenomenology of empowerment in collective action. In: Ninth International Conference on Alternative Futures and Popular Protest: Conference Papers (Vol. 1). Manchester Metropolitan University`.

Drury, John and Winter, Georgia (2003) Social identity as a source of strength in mass emergencies and other crowd events. International Journal of Mental Health, 32. pp. 77-93. ISSN 0020-7411

Drury, John, Reicher, Steve and Stott, Clifford (2003) Transforming the boundaries of collective identity: from the `local' anti-road campaign to `global' resistance? Social Movement Studies, 2 (2). pp. 191-212. ISSN 1474-2837

Drury, John (2003) What critical psychology can('t) do for the 'anti-capitalist movement'. Annual Review of Critical Psychology, 3. pp. 90-113. ISSN 1746-739X

Drury, John (2002) 'When the mobs are looking for witches to burn, nobody's safe': talking about the reactionary crowd. Discourse and Society, 13 (1). pp. 41-73. ISSN 0957-9265

Reicher, S, Drury, J, Hopkins, N and Stott, C (2001) A model of crowd prototypes and crowd leadership. In: Leadership and social movements. Manchester University Press, pp. 178-195. ISBN 9780719059018

Drury, John and Stott, Clifford (2001) Bias as a research strategy in participant observation: the case of intergroup conflict. Field Methods, 13 (1). pp. 47-67. ISSN 1525-822X

Stott, Clifford, Hutchison, Paul and Drury, John (2001) Hooligans abroad? Inter-group dynamics, social identity and participation in collective 'disorder' at the 1998 World Cup Finals. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40 (3). pp. 359-384. ISSN 0144-6665

Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (2000) Collective action and psychological change: the emergence of new social identities. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39 (4). pp. 579-604. ISSN 0144-6665

Stott, Clifford and Drury, John (2000) Crowds context and identity: dynamic categorization processes in the 'poll tax riot'. Human Relations, 53 (2). 247 - 273. ISSN 00187267

Drury, John and Reicher, Steve (1999) The intergroup dynamics of collective empowerment: Substantiating the social identity model. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 2 (4). 381 - 402. ISSN 13684302