Transitional processes culminating in extreme violence

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12936819
AutoresDonald G Dutton (University of British Columbia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen4
Número1
Páginas45-53
Fecha de publicación2012-01-13
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Aggression Conflict and Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1759-6599 • E-ISSN: 2042-8715
EditorialEmerald Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1108/17596591211192984
OpenAlexW2001091633
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas26

Purpose This paper seeks to review transitional processes that foster transitions from non‐aggression to extreme aggression. Most studies on aggression focus either on traits within violent individuals or social contexts that generate violence, less attention has been paid to transitional mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews “long‐term”, i.e. societal transitions that occur prior to and during genocides; mid‐term transitions such as induction into a military or paramilitary societies; and short‐term (situational) transitions that occur in situ . It reviews alterations in emotion, cognition, and behaviour that occur in these transitions and concludes with a description of the generated output behaviours of an extreme and often sadistic nature. Findings The paper concludes with a review of Nell's “Pain‐Blood‐Death” complex as a hypothetical inherited disposition that may be triggered by any or all of these transitional processes leading to cruel aggression. Originality/value The paper raises new concerns about the conceptualizing of extreme violence purely as an outcome of individual pathology and posits instead that a potential for cruelty may be part of our sociobiological heritage as a species. Furthermore, this potential may be tapped into by exposure to toxic war situations resulting in the manifestation of cruel and inhumane treatment of outgroups by soldiers from disparate societies and eras

Aggression · Criminology · Cruelty · Situational ethics · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Psychology · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence