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UNIT 3: Violence in Social Life (Hugo Gorringe)This unit will take its cue from Norbert Elias’ important work on the ‘civilizing process’. Elias’ historical sociology shows how our understanding of what constitutes desirable and pleasurable behaviour transforms over time. His account shows how societies in Western Europe were ‘civilised’ and came to shun the enjoyment of violence in everyday life. He argues that battle-lust and aggressiveness now find a regulated outlet in sports and the media. Crucially he did not see ‘civilisation’ as a linear form of progress. His is a descriptive rather than a moral category. “People speak of a ‘death instinct’ or a ‘need for esteem’ in the way they do of various chemical substances. Detailed observations regarding these different instinctual manifestations may be extremely fruitful” (Elias). Elias is quite difficult reading and so is not listed in the readings below. For those who wish to chase up this reference, see: Elias, N. (1978) ‘On Transformations of Aggressiveness’, Sociology 5(2): pp229-242 (Online via JSTOR). Week 6 – Reading Week, no classesWeek 7Tuesday 24/02/09: Sociological Understandings of ViolenceDefinitions and debates: What is highlighted, and what is hidden by dominant definitions? The well known maxim that ‘one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’, captures the ambiguities and silences in dominant definitions of ‘violence’. This lecture seeks to offer a sociological account. Crime in the inner-cities figures as violence, but not always the brutality of the Los Angeles police; so does public beheading, but not the electric chair (Pandey 2006).
Key ReadingsJackman, M (2002). ‘Violence in Social Life’, Annual Review of Sociology 28: pp387-415 (Online). Stanko, E (2002). ‘Introduction: Searching for the Meanings of Violence’, in E. Stanko (ed.) Violence. Dartmouth: Ashgate: ppxiii-xxiv [HV6493 Vio.] (WebCT) Other ReadingsBrubaker, R and Laitin, D 1998. Ethnic and Nationalist Violence. Annual Review of Sociology 24: pp423-52. (Online) Conley, C (1999). ‘The Agreeable Recreation of Fighting’, Journal of Social History 33(1): pp57-72 (Via JSTOR) McKie, L (2006). ‘Sociological Work on Violence: Gender, Theory and Research’, Sociological Research Online 11(2). (Online) Morrison, D et al. (1999). Defining Violence: The Search for Understanding. Luton: Luton University Press: Chapter 1. [HM281 Def.] (WebCT) Riches, D (1986). ‘The Phenomenon of Violence. In The Anthropology of Violence, D. Riches, ed. Oxford: Blackwell: pp1-27 [GN495.2 Ant.] Scheper-Hughes, N and Bourgois, P (2004). ‘Introduction: Making Sense of Violence’ in N.Scheper-Hughes and P.Bourgois (eds): Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell: pp1-31 [GN495.2 Vio]. Spierenburg, P (1994). ‘Faces of Violence: Homicide Trends and Cultural Meanings: Amsterdam, 1431-1816’, Journal of Social History 27(4): pp701-716 (JSTOR).
Friday 27/2/09: Explaining Violence?This lecture confronts normative accounts that portray violence in social life as senseless or meaningless and asks why people resort to violence. We will draw on the work of classical sociologists as well as more recent scholars. ‘They say violence is senseless, it has its reasons however’ (Girard in Blok 2001).
Key ReadingsBlok, A (2001). Honour & Violence. Cambridge: Polity: Chapter 6. [HV6453.182 Blo] (WebCT) Luckenbill, D and Doyle, D (1989). ‘Structural Position and Violence: Developing a Cultural explanation’, Criminology 27(3): 419-36 (Online and link on WebCT) Other ReadingsCohen, D & Vandello, J (1998). ‘Meanings of Violence’, Journal of Legal Studies 27(2): pp567-84 (Online) **Collins, R (2008). Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory. Chapter One [On Order in library]. Chapter available from: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8547.html Dobash, R & Dobash, R (1984). ‘The Nature and Antecedents of Violent Events’, British Journal of Criminology 24(3): pp269-88 (Online). Gorringe, H (2006). ‘Banal Violence? The everyday Underpinnings of Collective Violence’. Identities: Global Studies in Culture & Power 13(2): pp237-60. (Online). King, A (1995). ‘Outline of a Practical Theory of Football Violence’, Sociology 29(4): pp635-51 (Online) May, H (1999): ‘Who killed Whom? Victimization and culpability in the social construction of murder,’ British Journal of Sociology 50(3): pp489-506. Also in Stanko(ed) Violence: pp477-94 Muro-Ruiz, D (2002). ‘The Logic of Violence’, Politics 22(2): pp109-117 (Online) Schinkel, W (2004). ‘The Will to Violence’, Theoretical Criminology 8(5): pp5-31 (Online) Young, J (2003). ‘Merton with Energy, Katz with Structure’, Theoretical Criminology 7(3): pp389-414 (Online)
Week 8Tuesday 03/03/09: Institutionalised Violence? State, Authority & ObedienceThe worst instances of violence and death occur when states and other authorities are involved. State crimes are often not described as violence because of our focus on one-on-one crime. States, however, are not objective entities and require armies of soldiers, citizens and subjects to actually inflict violence. This lecture looks at conditions under which ‘ordinary people’ engage in horrendous violence. We take false pride in believing that ‘I am not that kind of person’ (Zimbardo 1974)
Key ReadingsBauman, Z (1988). ‘Sociology after the Holocaust’, British Journal of Sociology 39(4): pp469-97 (Available via JSTOR). Zimbardo, P (2004). ‘A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil’, in A. Miller (ed) The Social Psychology of Good and Evil. New York: Guilford Press: pp21-50. Available online at: http://www.prisonexp.org/pdf/evil.pdf (WebCT) Other ReadingsArendt, H (1977). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. Harmondsworth: Penguin [New College DD247.E5 Are.] Bauman, Z (1989). Modernity and the Holocaust. (Chs 1,4,6). Cambridge: Polity [D810.J4 Bau.] Milgram, S (1974). Obedience to Authority. New York: Harper & Row [BJ1459]. See especially 'Epilogue' [Offprint]. Pandey, G (2006). Routine Violence. Introduction. New Delhi: Permanent Black [JC328.6 Pan.] *Ron, J (1997). ‘Varying Methods of State Violence’, International Organization 51(2): p275-300 (Online)
http://www.zmag.org/GlobalWatch/chomskymit.htm - Noam Chomsky on ‘The New War Against Terror’. http://www.chomsky.info/debates/20020530.htm - a debate over whether the USA is a terrorist state or not.
http://www.prisonexp.org/slide-42.htm http://www.prisonexp.org/pdf/blass.pdf
Friday, 06/03/09: The Impact of Media Violence and Computer GamesA key debate in violence related research is the extent to which media violence or violent computer games encourage aggression or desensitise us to violence – hence the recurrent soul-searching about viewer effects and copy-cat violence. This lecture touches on the wider question of representations of violence before focussing in on the two sides of the media/violence debate. ‘The debate is over. Over the last three decades, the one overriding finding in research on the mass media is that exposure to media portrayals of violence increases aggressive behaviour in children’ (American Psychiatric Association). ‘The claims about the possible ‘effects of violent media’ are not just false, they range from the daft to the mischievous’ (Barker & Petley 2001).
Key ReadingsBushman, B & Anderson, C (2001). ‘Media Violence & The American Public’, American Psychologist 56(6/7): pp477-489 (Online and link on WebCT) Barker, M (2001). ‘The Newson Report: A case study in ‘common sense’, in M. Barker and J. Petley (eds) Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate. London: Routledge: pp27-46 (also Intro and article by Guantlett). [New College P96.V52 Ill.] (WebCT) Other Readings*American Psychiatric Association (2000) ‘Psychiatric Effects of Media Violence’, available online at: http://www.healthyminds.org/mediaviolence.cfm Anderson, C (2004). ‘An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games’, Journal of Adolescence 27(1): pp113-22 [Online – also see other articles in that volume]. *Anderson, C et al. (2003). ‘The influence of media violence on youth’,Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4 (3): pp81–110. [Online] Browne, K & Hamilton-Giachritis, C (2005). ‘The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents’, The Lancet 365: pp702-10 [Online] Felson, R (1996). ‘Mass media Effects on Violent Behaviour’, Annual Review of Sociology 22: pp103-28 [JSTOR]. Freedman, J (1984). ‘Effect of TV Violence on Aggressiveness’, Psychological Bulletin 96(2): pp227-246 (Online). *Jones, G (2002). Killing Monsters. Chapter 2. New York: Basic Books [P94.5.C55Jon & Offprint] Kirsh, S (2006). Children, Adolescents & Media Violence Ch.13 London: Sage (HQ784.M3 Kir) Morrison, D et al. (1999). Defining Violence: The Search for Understanding. Luton: Luton University Press: Chapter 1. [New College HM281 Def]. Stasburger, V (2007). ‘Go Ahead Punk, Make My Day: It’s Time for Pediatricians to Take Action Against Media Violence’, Pediatrics 119(6): pp1398-1399. [Online] Readings on how Violence is RepresentedBaudrillard, J (2004 [1995]). The Gulf War did not Take Place. Sydney: Power Publications. [DS79.72 Bau.]. Salmi, J (1993). Violence and the Democratic State. Introduction: London: Zed [HM281 Sal.] Week 9
Tuesday 10/03/09: Lecture 5: Violence & the Shaping of the SocialBeing a victim of violence can be an intensely individual experience, but the impact of violence extends beyond the physical target. Violence is destructive but it is also ‘world-making’ and shapes the social world in which we live. This lecture looks at violence which is inscribed into our day-to-day lives and modes of thought. Poverty, this report shows, is the world’s deadliest disease. It wields its destructive influence at every stage of human life, and for most of its victims the only escape is an early grave. Poverty provides that too … For many millions of people for whom survival is a daily battle, the prospect of longer life may seem more like a punishment than a prize (World Health Organisation 1995). Key ReadingsKleinman, A (2000). ‘The Violences of Everyday Life’, in V. Das, A. Kleinman, M. Ramphele & P. Reynolds (eds.) Violence & Subjectivity. Berkley: University of California Press: pp226-241. [HM886.Vio] (WebCT) Lysaght, M & Basten, A (2003). ‘Violence, fear and ‘the everyday’: negotiating spatial practice in the city of Belfast’ in E. Stanko (ed): The Meanings of Violence. London: Routledge: pp224-243. [HM1116. Mea.]. Also available online: http://www.qub.ac.uk/c-star/pubs/Violence%20fear%20and%20the%20everyday.pdf (WebCT) Other ReadingsBourdieu, P & Wacquant, L (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Pages 67-73 on ‘Symbolic Violence’. Oxford: Polity [HM24 Bou.]. Bowman, G (2001). ‘The Violence in Identity’, in B. Schmidt & I. Schröder (eds.) Anthropology of Violence and Conflict. London: Routledge: pp25-46 [GN494.5 Ant] Farmer, P et al (2004). ‘An Anthropology of Structural Violence’, Current Anthropology 45(3): 305-25 (see especially response by Wacquant, L). (Online). Gorringe, H (2006). ‘Banal Violence?’ Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 13(2): pp237-60 (Online). Jackman, M (2002). ‘Violence in Social Life’, Annual Review of Sociology 28: pp387-415 (Online). *Morgan, K & Bjorkert, S (2006). ‘”I’d rather you’d lay me on the floor and start kicking me’: Understanding Symbolic Violence in Everyday Life’, Women’s Studies International Forum 29: pp441-52 (Online). Pandey, G (2006). Routine Violence (Intro). Delhi: Permanent Black. Scheper-Hughes, N (2002). ‘Peace-Time Crimes & the Violence of Everyday Life’, Ideas (Journal of the National Humanities Center) 9(1): 56-8 (and other articles in that volume): http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ideasv91/nycessay.pdf Scully, D & Marolla, J (1985). ‘”Riding the Bull at Gilleys”: Convicted rapists describe the Rewards of Rape’, Social Problems 32(3): pp43-55 (JSTOR) WHO 1995. The World Health Report (1995): Bridging the Gaps (see especially Director General’s message: http://www.who.int/whr/1995/en/index.html |