Frenzied attacks. A micro‐sociological analysis of the emotional dynamics of extreme youth violence

Abstract

Inspired by phenomenological and interactionist studies of youth violence, this article offers an empirical evaluation of Collins's micro-sociological theory of violence. The main question is whether situations of extreme violence have distinct situational dynamics. Based on analyses of 159 interactions taken from judicial case files, situations of extreme youth violence, here called frenzied attacks, were identified on the basis of the state of encapsulation of the attackers (absorbed in the violence, their sole focus is the destruction of the victim) and the disproportionateness of the violence (the attackers continue to hurt the victims even though they do not pose a threat or a challenge to them). Qualitative and statistical analyses revealed that this emotional state results from a social figuration in which the emotional balance shifts toward complete dominance of the attackers. Thus, the occurrence of frenzied attacks is associated with the moment victims hit the ground, paralyse and start to apologize, with the numerical dominance of the attackers' supportive group and with feelings of group membership, in the form of solidarity excitement and family ties in the attackers' group. Alcohol intoxication is of influence as well, but contrary to the expectation, this effect was independent from solidarity excitement. The article concludes that Collins's theory on the emotional dynamics of violence adds a new dimension to the phenomenological and interactionist traditions of research.

Contesting Dominance and Performing Badness: A Micro‐Sociological Analysis of the Forms, Situational Asymmetry, and Severity of Street Violence

“…As I have shown elsewhere(Weenink 2014), victims who hit the ground form a tipping point that results into extreme, frenzied violence, similar to whatCollins (2008:83-113) has conceptualized as forward panics. However, in performing badness this may be different, as the attackers are probably experienced in manipulating their own and others' ct/f and have already secured domination.…”

“…; Jackson‐Jacobs ). As my earlier analyses demonstrate, youth violence is more likely to turn extreme after one party fell down because the now‐vulnerable and less‐threatening position of the opponent opens up opportunities for total, uncontested dominance (Weenink ). While the continued use of violence against opponents who have hit the ground offers an opportunity to display one's meanness in performing badness, it is supposed to demonstrate a lack of character in contesting dominance.…”

On the Actual Risk of Bystander Intervention: A Statistical Study Based on Naturally Occurring Violent Emergencies

“…That violence can spill over to a bystander is, moreover, illustrated by situations where a random bystander is hit by a bullet intended for someone else, e.g., as part of a gang-related drive-by shooting (Hutson, Anglin, and Eckstein 1996). In theoretical terms, victimization as a spillover process is to be expected on the basis of Collins' (2008) view that excessively violent situations arise from a perpetrator's elevated emotions of tension and fear being released into an unstoppable, frenzied attack (Weenink 2014). This dynamic, described as forward panic, unfolds in a temporarily uncontrolled manner and can thus lead to a "spillover of forward panic" (Collins 2008: 95), entailing attacks on uninvolved, random or, we hypothesize, intervening third parties.…”

On the Actual Risk of Bystander Intervention

“…We will discuss the issue of sample-selection bias later, but here we would like to highlight that a methodological innovation of the current study is that we compensate for the two latter limitations by triangulating the video footage with police case file data. As illustrated by Weenink (2014), police case files offer insight into social aspects of violent encounters (e.g., verbal exchanges, social group ties), which is not easily caught on camera. Specifically, we draw on a sample of surveillance camera footage of naturally occurring violent crime that involves intervening bystanders, and each of these recordings is matched with a police case file.…”

“…That violence can spillover to a bystander is, moreover, illustrated by situations where a random bystander is hit by a bullet intended for someone else, for example, as part of a gang-related drive-by shooting (Hutson, Anglin, and Eckstein 1996). In theoretical terms, victimization as a spillover process is to be expected on the basis of Collins's (2008) view that excessively violent situations arise from a perpetrator's elevated emotions of tension and fear being released into an unstoppable, frenzied attack (Weenink 2014). This dynamic, described as forward panic, unfolds in a temporarily uncontrolled manner and can thus lead to a "spillover of forward panic" (Collins 2008:95), entailing attacks on uninvolved, random or, we hypothesize, intervening third parties.…”