Understanding Violence

Author: Elizabeth Kande L. Englander
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351537938
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
What impels human beings to harm others -- family members or strangers? And how can these impulses and actions be prevented or controlled? Heightened public awareness of, and concern about, what is widely perceived as a recent explosion of violence -- on a spectrum from domestic abuse to street crime -- has motivated behavioral and social scientists to cast new light on old questions. Many hypotheses have been offered. This volume sorts, structures, and evaluates them.The author draws on contemporary research and theory in varied fields--sociology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, neuropsychology, behavioral genetics, child development, and education--to present a uniquely balanced, integrated, and readable summary of what we currently know about the causes and effects of violence. Throughout, she emphasizes the necessity of distinguishing among different types of violent behavior and of realizing that nature and nurture interact in human development. Controversial issues such as physical punishment and violent television programming receive special attention making this volume an important resource for all those concerned with violent offenders and their victims -- and for their students and trainees.In this third edition of Understanding Violence, author Elizabeth Kandel Englander draws on contemporary research and theory in varied fields to present a uniquely balanced, integrated, and readable summary of what we currently know about the causes and effects of violence, particularly its effect on children. The goal of this textbook is to give a critical review of the most relevant and important areas of research on street and family violence, examining why it is that people become violent. Between 1994 and 2004 the United States benefited from a dramatic decline in rates of violent crime. However, as the economy has weakened in recent years and tougher times have returned, the crime rate has shown signs of a modest

Violence

Author: Slavoj Zizek
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312427182
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
Philosopher, cultural critic, and agent provocateur Zizek constructs a fascinating new framework to look at the forces of violence in the world.

The Myth of Religious Violence

Author: William T Cavanaugh
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199736642
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category 'religion' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power. Cavanaugh draws on this scholarship to examine how timeless and transcultural categories of 'religion and 'the secular' are used in arguments that religion causes violence. He argues three points: 1) There is no transhistorical and transcultural essence of religion. What counts as religious or secular in any given context is a function of political configurations of power; 2) Such a transhistorical and transcultural concept of religion as non-rational and prone to violence is one of the foundational legitimating myths of Western society; 3) This myth can be and is used to legitimate neo-colonial violence against non-Western others, particularly the Muslim world.

Violence Explained

Author: John Wear Burton
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719050480
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
Burton argues that the sources of conflict and violence are, on the one hand, the denial to many of their personal needs for development, social recognition and identity, and, on the other, the social expectation of compliance and the means used to enforce it. Social protest, terrorism, revolution, self-appointed leaderships, ethnic conflicts, industrial strife, street gangs of unemployed youth and even some family violence can be explained within this frame of 'structural violence'. He examines the adversarial institutions of society - leadership, legislatures, the work place, the legal system and the international relations system - and considers what each would be like if designed to solve basic problems rather than to contain them. This provocative and challenging book will be of interest to students, lecturers and practitioners of politics, administration and management, industry, law and law enforcement, education and social work.

Violence, the Arts, and Willa Cather

Author: Joseph R. Urgo
Publisher: Associated University Presse
ISBN: 9780838641576
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
Willa Cather was devoted to making art in the face of violence. Here, she emerges as a resource for survival in an age of terror, an artist who encourages her readers to feel at home in the nexus of creativity and terror, and to seek creative responses to the horror of human life.

Norms of Violence

Author: Aimée X. Delaney
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000357007
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 157

Book Description
Norms of Violence: Violent Socialization Processes and the Spillover Effect for Youth Crime explores the degree to which violent socialization processes, both at the macro- and micro-levels, are associated with youth criminal behavior. Based on a quantitative test of an integrated theory of social control and culture of violence, the author argues that violent socialization is a process involving physical violence, exposure to violence, and pro-violent communications. All three dimensions, in combination with national level indicators of violence, contribute to a norm of violence which, at a national-level, spills over into other dimensions of society, including the family environment. This book seeks to answer if violent socialization processes truly control youth behavior. Various quantitative methods are used to demonstrate how violent socialization tends to be more prevalent in nations with indicators of violence compared to nations without such indicators. The spilling over of violence into socialization processes creates a context of violence normalized as a form of social control, which exacerbates youth criminal behavior within pro-violent nations. This book is unique in propelling a more thorough explanation of international youth crime by focusing on both victimization (violent socialization) and offending, rather than arguing solely that victimization is a correlate of youth crime. It provides a reference point for future comparative research offering theoretical explanations for youth crime across different nations and is essential reading for those engaged in youth and juvenile justice efforts and scholars interested in issues surrounding violence, youth, and justice.

Peace, Culture, and Violence

Author: Fuat Gursozlu
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900436191X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
Peace, Culture, and Violence examines deeper sources of violence by providing a critical reflection on the forms of violence that permeate everyday life and our inability to recognize these forms of violence. Exploring the elements of culture that legitimize and normalize violence, the essays collected in this volume invite us to recognize and critically approach the violent aspects of reality we live in and encourage us to envision peaceful alternatives. Including chapters written by important scholars in the fields of Peace Studies and Social and Political Philosophy, the volume represents an endeavour to seek peace in a world deeply marred by violence. Topics include: thug culture, language, hegemony, police violence, war on drugs, war, terrorism, gender, anti-Semitism, and other topics. Contributors are: Amin Asfari, Edward Demenchonok, Andrew Fiala, William Gay, Fuat Gursozlu, Joshua M. Hall , Ron Hirschbein, Todd Jones, Sanjay Lal, Alessandro Rovati, Laleye Solomon Akinyemi, David Speetzen, and Lloyd Steffen.

State Violence and Moral Horror

Author: Jeremy Arnold
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438466757
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
Explores the concept of "moral horror" as the experience of living amidst unjustifiable state violence.

Violence and American Cinema

Author: J. David Slocum
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135204918
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
American cinema has always been violent, and never more so than now: exploding heads, buses that blow up if they stop, racial attacks, and general mayhem. From slapstick's comic violence to film noir, from silent cinema to Tarantino, violence has been an integral part of America on screen. This new volume in a successful series analyzes violence, examining its nature, its effects, and its cinematic and social meaning.

Family Violence

Author: Paul Harvey Wallace
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317348354
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
Examines the entire spectrum of family violence, focusing onsocial processes and social relationships. The seventh edition of Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives by Harvey Wallace and Cliff Roberson is a comprehensive introduction to the study of family violence that guides readers to a better understanding of the challenges involved in reducing or eliminating violence. The six major topics are: domestic partner abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, physical and psychological abuse, identifying when abuse occurs, and discussing the effects of the various types of abuse or violence. Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: -Understand the facets of family violence. -Discuss how violence may be reduced or eliminated. -Identify how each major type of abuse impacts the social and law enforcement agencies that are involved.