Social integration and mass shootings in U.S. counties

Kwon, Roy H.; Cabrera, Joseph F.

doi:10.1080/0735648x.2018.1510336

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…As such, our finding that change in this variable decreases mass shootings may indicate there is a upper threshold at which continued increase in population density no longer increases mass shootings. In terms of minority population, our discovery that an increase in minority population is positively associated with mass shootings is consistent with previous findings [35]. According to this research, an increase in the minority population results in ethnic fractionalization in the United States, resulting in decreased civic engagement and social integration, thus leading to more violence and mass shootings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Income inequality and mass shootings in the United States

Kwon

Cabrera

2019

BMC Public Health

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Background Mass shootings are an increasingly common phenomenon in the United States. However, there is little research on whether the recent growth of income inequality is associated with this rise of mass shootings. We thus build on our prior research to explore the connection between income inequality and mass shootings across counties in the United States. Methods We assemble a panel dataset of 3144 counties during the years 1990 to 2015. Socioeconomic data are extracted from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Mass shootings data are from three databases that compile its information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and media sources, respectively. These data are analyzed using random effects negative binomial regressions, while controlling for seven additional predictors of crime. Results Counties experiencing a one standard deviation growth of income inequality witnessed 0.43 more mass shootings when using the definition of three or more victim injuries (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 1.66; P < .001) and 0.57 more mass shootings when using the designation of four or more victim deaths (IRR = 1.57; 95% CI = 1.26, 1.96; P < .001). Conclusions Counties with growing levels of income inequality are more likely to experience mass shootings. We assert that one possibility for this finding is that income inequality fosters an environment of anger and resentment that ultimately leads to violence.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Income inequality and mass shootings in the United States

Kwon

Cabrera

2019

BMC Public Health

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“…The results indicate that county-level poverty rates increase the probability of far-right radicalization. While there is little to no evidence that poverty predicts extremism at the state-level (Durso and Jacobs, 2013;Gale et al, 2002;Lin et al, 2018;Piazza, 2017), studies at the county-level have found that poverty predicts both mass shooting rate (Kwon and Cabrera, 2019b) and hate groups (presence (Medina et al, 2018) not longevity (Suttmoeller et al, 2015(Suttmoeller et al, , 2016(Suttmoeller et al, , 2018). This discrepancy between geographic resolutions indicates that using state-level poverty data obscures local variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aim of this study is to determine whether patterns of far-right radicalization in the United States are consistent with a contagion process, and to assess the influence of critical endemic factors. After controlling for population density, I assessed the following endemic factors that have been implicated in previous research on radicalization, extremism, and mass shootings: poverty rate (Durso and Jacobs, 2013;Gale et al, 2002;Kwon and Cabrera, 2019b;Lin et al, 2018;Medina et al, 2018;Piazza, 2017;Suttmoeller et al, 2015Suttmoeller et al, , 2016Suttmoeller et al, , 2018, unemployment rate (Espiritu, 2004;Gale et al, 2002;Goetz et al, 2012;Green et al, 1998;Jefferson and Pryor, 1999;Majumder, 2017;Pah et al, 2017;Piazza, 2017), income inequality (Goetz et al, 2012;Cabrera, 2017, 2019a, b;Majumder, 2017;McVeigh, 2004;McVeigh and Cunningham, 2012), education levels (Durso and Jacobs, 2013;Espiritu, 2004;Florida, 2011;Gladfelter et al, 2017;Cabrera, 2017, 2019a;McVeigh et al, 2014), non-white population size (Gladfelter et al, 2017;LaFree and Bersani, 2014;McVeigh, 2004;Medina et al, 2018), violent crime rate (Gladfelter et al, 2017;McVeigh and Cunningham, 2012;Sweeney and Perliger, 2018), gun ownership (Anisin, 2018;Lin et al, 2018;…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extremist ideology as a complex contagion: the spread of far-right radicalization in the United States between 2005 and 2017

Youngblood

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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Increasing levels of far-right extremist violence have generated public concern about the spread of radicalization in the United States. Previous research suggests that radicalized individuals are destabilized by various environmental (or endemic) factors, exposed to extremist ideology, and subsequently reinforced by members of their community. As such, the spread of radicalization may proceed through a social contagion process, in which extremist ideologies behave like complex contagions that require multiple exposures for adoption. In this study, I applied an epidemiological method called two-component spatio-temporal intensity modeling to data from 416 far-right extremists exposed in the United States between 2005 and 2017. The results indicate that patterns of far-right radicalization in the United States are consistent with a complex contagion process, in which reinforcement is required for transmission. Both social media usage and group membership enhance the spread of extremist ideology, suggesting that online and physical organizing remain primary recruitment tools of the far-right movement. In addition, I identified several endemic factors, such as poverty, that increase the probability of radicalization in particular regions. Future research should investigate how specific interventions, such as online counter-narratives to battle propaganda, may be effectively implemented to mitigate the spread of far-right extremism in the United States.

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“…Such findings may speak to the degree to which communal cohesion breeds cycles of violence. Suicide rates are considered an indicator that a given community lacks social capital (Kwon & Cabrera, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lastly, I entered two additional variables designed to measure "social capital," as demonstrated by Kwon & Cabrera (2019). These include the suicide rate, using data from the Center for Disease Control, as well as the percent of the population renting rather than owning homes, as provided by the US census.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affluence Threat: Property Norms and Police Brutality in the United States

Szendro¹

2020

Preprint

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Americans have become increasingly accustomed to controversies surrounding police violence. Such controversies typically center around Fatal Interactions with Police, or FIPs. Previous studies of FIPs have often centered around individual cases and struggled to produce consistent results. I argue that a structuralist perspective can explain these events. Building on previous findings regarding race and inequality, I argue that higher property values should produce a greater number of FIPs. I use a series of count and probability models to illustrate both that this effect occurs, and also that this effect intersects with issues of race and class in a number of revealing ways. Finally, I conclude by offering suggestions for lessening environmental factors that produce these events.

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Social integration and mass shootings in U.S. counties

Cited by 6 publications

References 46 publications

Income inequality and mass shootings in the United States

Income inequality and mass shootings in the United States

Extremist ideology as a complex contagion: the spread of far-right radicalization in the United States between 2005 and 2017

Affluence Threat: Property Norms and Police Brutality in the United States

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