walby violence
HREQ 4652 – Sylvia Walby, “Violence and society: Introduction to an emerging field of sociology”
Violence is becoming important for sociology as a discipline, yet has often been dispersed and fragmented in to areas of analysis
While violence was a theme addressed by classical sociological theorists such as Marx and Engels and Weber, it became les central after the Second World War
Violence has been seen in two major forms: interpersonal violent crime and inter-state war
Violent crime and deviance is often analyzed in the field of criminology
The use of warfare by the state is often analyzed by international relations, political science and security studies
There is a re-emergence of violence as more central to sociology, partly because of greater inclusion of views from the South, from women and minorities and the increased visibility and practice of violence in everyday life, governance and inter-state relations
The uncovering of new forms of violence contests the theses that suggest that violence declines with modernity: that the forms that remain lie in the deviance and criminality of disadvantaged individuals (suffering from poverty & inequality) & infrequent battles between military in inter-state war
Durkheim’s focus: anomie, egoism, social disorganization, poverty, social disintegration; suicide varies between countries based on level of anomie
Merton: violent crime is the consequence of social and economic inequality (turn to illegitimate means of obtaining goods)
Elias: civilizing effects of modernity include increase in self-control, control over the expression of violent urges; decline in homicide over centuries in EU – associated with modernity thru impact of economic growth; rich countries have lower rates of homicide than poorer ones
Challenges: research on interpersonal violence, the new wars, violence against women, violence against minorities, violence in the South / critiques assumption of single form of modernity with a linear
Violence is becoming important for sociology as a discipline, yet has often been dispersed and fragmented in to areas of analysis
While violence was a theme addressed by classical sociological theorists such as Marx and Engels and Weber, it became les central after the Second World War
Violence has been seen in two major forms: interpersonal violent crime and inter-state war
Violent crime and deviance is often analyzed in the field of criminology
The use of warfare by the state is often analyzed by international relations, political science and security studies
There is a re-emergence of violence as more central to sociology, partly because of greater inclusion of views from the South, from women and minorities and the increased visibility and practice of violence in everyday life, governance and inter-state relations
The uncovering of new forms of violence contests the theses that suggest that violence declines with modernity: that the forms that remain lie in the deviance and criminality of disadvantaged individuals (suffering from poverty & inequality) & infrequent battles between military in inter-state war
Durkheim’s focus: anomie, egoism, social disorganization, poverty, social disintegration; suicide varies between countries based on level of anomie
Merton: violent crime is the consequence of social and economic inequality (turn to illegitimate means of obtaining goods)
Elias: civilizing effects of modernity include increase in self-control, control over the expression of violent urges; decline in homicide over centuries in EU – associated with modernity thru impact of economic growth; rich countries have lower rates of homicide than poorer ones
Challenges: research on interpersonal violence, the new wars, violence against women, violence against minorities, violence in the South / critiques assumption of single form of modernity with a linear