The Sociological Analysis of Violence: New Perspectives

Abstract

Violence has been a central preoccupation for political and social scientists, and this paper begins with a critical appraisal of the classical approaches to the phenomenon of violence, showing how despite their considerable differences, they are not necessarily contradictory. Via engagement with the recent work of Randall Collins, the paper pays particular attention to the limits of symbolic interactionism. The paper then places the subject central to sociological analysis, showing how it is possible to avoid the determinism of classical sociology by exploring the meaning of violence for the subjects who use it, and how these meanings relate to the processes of subjectivation and desubjectivation.

Intervention or Involvement: A Video Observational Analysis of Bouncers in Aggressive Encounters

“…This tells very little about what happens within the situation itself, including, in particular, the interactional dynamics between the bouncers and patrons when aggression occurs. It should be stressed, however, that a situational analysis of interactional processes should not fetishized to the point where the person-based explanations of bouncer violence are denied (see Smith 2015;Swann and Jetten 2017;Wieviorka 2014). Such a view would neglect individual-level evidence relevant for bouncer studies, for example, findings suggesting that individuals with a more pronounced "culture of honor" tend to react more aggressively to interpersonal insults (Cohen et al 1996;Saucier et al 2018).…”

Five Sociological Premises about Violence

“…De este modo, Randall Collins señala que la frontera entre una interacción no violenta y una que sí lo es se encuentra en la situación de tensión y miedo confrontacional que da pie a su surgimiento, siempre y cuando: a) se localiza a un objetivo débil, b) hay un público que respalde a los agresores, c) se ataca desde lejos o d) se perpetra un ataque sorpresa (Collins, 2008). Michael Wieviorka explica la violencia como resultado de procesos de desubjetivización, 4 que se combinan con condiciones de exclusión, motivos ideológicos, obediencia irreflexiva a la autoridad o hedonismo (Wieviorka, 2009(Wieviorka, , 2013(Wieviorka, , 2014a(Wieviorka, , 2014b. Para Niklas Luhmann (1998), se trata de un sistema social cuya fuerza destructora se observa en los sistemas más amplios en los que aquella surge parasitariamente; por ejemplo, la familia, la empresa, las relaciones internacionales.…”

On the Elementary Neural Forms of Micro‐Interactional Rituals: Integrating Autonomic Nervous System Functioning Into Interaction Ritual Theory

“…In his theory of violence, Collins (:370) actually makes the comparable suggestion that only a small proportion of individuals are “the violent few” who succeed in using emotional fields to their advantage in circumventing the confrontational tension/fear. Collins's situational perspective, however, provides no explanation of why precisely these individuals have the subjectivity (Wieviorka ), motivation (Smith ), or, as a growing body of neurocriminological evidence suggests (Xu et al. ), the neurobiological disposition (e.g., vagal tone) to become one of the few actively violent individuals.…”