Random Violence

Random Violence PDF Author: Joel Best
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520921672
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description
Random Violence is a deft and thought-provoking exploration of the ways we talk about—and why we worry about—new crimes and new forms of victimization. Focusing on so-called random crimes such as freeway shootings, gang violence, hate crimes, stalking, and wilding, Joel Best shows how new crime problems emerge and how some quickly fade from public attention while others spread and become enduring subjects of concern. Best's original and incisive argument illuminates the fact that while these crimes are in actuality neither new, nor epidemic, nor random, the language used to describe them nonetheless shapes both private fears and public policies. Best scrutinizes the melodramatic quality of the American public's attitudes toward crime, exposing the cultural context for the popularity of "random violence" as a catch-all phrase to describe contemporary crime, and the fallacious belief that violence is steadily rising. He points out that the age, race, and sex of homicide victims reveal that violence is highly patterned. Best also details the contemporary ideology of victimization, as well as the social arrangements that create and support a victim industry that can label large numbers of victims. He demonstrates why it has become commonplace to "declare war" on social problems, including drugs, crime, poverty, and cancer, and outlines the complementary influence of media, activists, officials, and experts in institutionalizing crime problems. Intrinsic to all these concerns is the way in which policy choices and outcomes are affected by the language used to describe social problems.

Random Violence

Random Violence PDF Author: Joel Best
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520921672
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description
Random Violence is a deft and thought-provoking exploration of the ways we talk about—and why we worry about—new crimes and new forms of victimization. Focusing on so-called random crimes such as freeway shootings, gang violence, hate crimes, stalking, and wilding, Joel Best shows how new crime problems emerge and how some quickly fade from public attention while others spread and become enduring subjects of concern. Best's original and incisive argument illuminates the fact that while these crimes are in actuality neither new, nor epidemic, nor random, the language used to describe them nonetheless shapes both private fears and public policies. Best scrutinizes the melodramatic quality of the American public's attitudes toward crime, exposing the cultural context for the popularity of "random violence" as a catch-all phrase to describe contemporary crime, and the fallacious belief that violence is steadily rising. He points out that the age, race, and sex of homicide victims reveal that violence is highly patterned. Best also details the contemporary ideology of victimization, as well as the social arrangements that create and support a victim industry that can label large numbers of victims. He demonstrates why it has become commonplace to "declare war" on social problems, including drugs, crime, poverty, and cancer, and outlines the complementary influence of media, activists, officials, and experts in institutionalizing crime problems. Intrinsic to all these concerns is the way in which policy choices and outcomes are affected by the language used to describe social problems.

Coping with Random Acts of Violence

Coping with Random Acts of Violence PDF Author: Rich Mintzer
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN: 9780823944835
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 102

Get Book

Book Description
Violence, especially the one that comes unexpectedly and senselessly, has existed since the dawn of time. While it is unfortunately a part of everyday life, steps can be taken to deal and prevent future acts from happening. This book allows the reader to understand the nature of random violence, recognizing the symptoms of a potential act, dealing with peer pressure and gangs, and how to prevent future outbreaks.

Senseless Violence and Its Ramifications

Senseless Violence and Its Ramifications PDF Author: Ami Rokach
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351609483
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Get Book

Book Description
The baby boomer generation grew up in the 1950s when there existed the general belief that the Cold War was the greatest threat to the world order, and a frightening possibility. It was difficult to believe, then, that it could get worse, but the same threat of violence is now a daily occurrence around the globe. People are being shot, slaughtered, maimed, and disappear for a multitude of reasons, none having any connection, most of the time, with the victims. The scale of loss when these tragedies occur is devastating, leaving the public as well as policy makers and legislators scrambling for solutions, clarification, and understanding of how we have become a society where violence is so rampant, so frequent, and so senseless. This book includes contributions by leading experts on violence and its ramifications, who review the devastation, reasons, and consequences of violence which is senseless, cruel, and aims to hurt and destroy anyone in its path. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Psychology.

Random Violence

Random Violence PDF Author: Joel Best
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520215729
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book

Book Description
"A major contribution to the literature on social problems, crime, and social deviance, and a fine example of what is currently the best-established theoretical approach to this material. It is laudably interdisciplinary, draws admirably from 'high' and 'low' culture, and over all asks some very challenging questions."—Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University "Random Violence extends the growing scholarly literature on the social construction of social problems by showing us how currently trendy folk knowledge obscures the most perplexing problems in American society and how it serves to foster a climate of social distrust."—Donileen Loeske, University of South Florida

Extreme Right Wing Political Violence and Terrorism

Extreme Right Wing Political Violence and Terrorism PDF Author: Max Taylor
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441140875
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
In this collection, senior experts explore all aspects of extreme right wing political violence, from the nature of the threat, processes of engagement, and ideology to the lessons that can be drawn from exiting such engagement. Further, right wing activism and political violence are compared with Jihadi violence and engagement. Also, the European experience is placed within a greater framework, including that of the United States and the Arab Spring. The book opens with an essay on U.S. far right groups, investigating their origins and processes of recruitment. It then delves into violence against UK Mosques and Islamic centers, the relationship between Ulster loyalism and far right extremism, the Dutch extremist landscape, and the July 2011 Norway attacks. Also discussed are how narratives of violence are built and justified, at what point do individuals join into violence, and how differently states respond to left-wing vs. right-wing extremism. This comparative work offers a unique look into the very nature of right wing extremism and will be a must-read for anyone studying political violence and terrorism

Violence

Violence PDF Author: David Wästerfors
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000624064
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book

Book Description
This book considers how the concept of violence has been interpreted, used, defined, and explored by social researchers and thinkers. It does not provide a final answer to the question of what violence is or how it should be explained (or prevented), and instead offers a variety of useful ways of thinking about and theorising the phenomenon, mainly from a sociological standpoint. It outlines four ways of understanding violence: • Violence as situation: the tension that exists between category-driven and situational explanations. • Violence as speciality: the study of particularly violent actors, and how they may be understood by reference to childhood histories, technologies, institutions, culture, class, and gender. • Violence as politics: political violence and violent politics. • Violence as storytelling: representations of violence from a narrative perspective. Concluding with reflections on possible convergences between the four approaches and new directions for research, this book offers a unique and experimental approach to discussing and reconstructing the concept of violence. It is essential reading for criminologists, sociologists, and philosophers alike.

Researching Violence

Researching Violence PDF Author: Raymond M. Lee
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317834860
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book

Book Description
Violence is a research topic that is fraught with difficulties. A notoriously sensitive subject, and one that is presumed to be largely hidden, researchers have long struggled with the question of how to measure its impact and how to explore its incidence. Arising from the ESRC's Violence Research Programme, Researching Violence is a practical guide both to theses problems and to the obstacles encountered when negotiating this uneasy terrain. Comprising the reflections of researchers who have worked on diverse projects - from violence in the home to racial violence and homicide - this book demonstrates the ingenuity and at times courageous actions of researchers having to think on their feet. It also investigates the ethical and emotional issues arising from working with the victims and perpetrators of violence. This book will be indispensable for students and academics doing research projects on violence.

Understanding Political Violence: A Criminological Approach

Understanding Political Violence: A Criminological Approach PDF Author: Ruggiero, Vincenzo
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 0335217516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
The author distinguishes between political violence from below, for example collective violence, insurgency, armed struggle and terrorism; and political violence from above, which includes indiscriminate repression, institutional and state violence, torture and war.

Before and After Violence

Before and After Violence PDF Author: Salman Akhtar
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498568599
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book

Book Description
Before and After Violence explores the complex network of experiences and relationships that contribute to both the origins and consequences of violence, beginning with local instances like intimate partner violence and working toward global occurrences like terrorism and war. The contributors to this collection examine the different settings in which violence takes place and the variables that propel its occurrence from infanthood onward./span

Violence, Inequality, and Human Freedom

Violence, Inequality, and Human Freedom PDF Author: Peter Iadicola
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442209496
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 537

Get Book

Book Description
"Violence, Inequality, and Human Freedom is a powerful sociological introduction to the study of violence. The book highlights how violence goes beyond individual actions and introduces students to violence on three different levels: structural, institutional, and interpersonal. The third edition has been revised and updated throughout, including a new chapter on educational violence and revised sections on forms of institutional and structural violence, including sibling and elder violence, violence of the modern-day seige and drone assassinations, violence directed at other species, and the violence of modern-day slavery."--back cover.