Customer Reviews:
Serious, but accessible.......2006-03-11
I got "domination" for a class, which does not tend to bias me in favor of liking a book. However, I have tentatively enjoyed reading it. It is a serious, scholarly book, but the topic is engaging and the case studies and historical examples cited are always interesting. I think that the author supports his complex thesis very well, and I would recommend this book to people who want to read something serious about race and culture.
Domination and the Arts of Resistance.......2002-01-23
This book is a clear indication of the problems with modern historians: the tendency toward presumption and the discovery of common sense as if it were a new planet. Scott claims to understand the REAL story beneath ordinary daily discourses, going so far as to state that young inner city black men play a game that involves trading insults in order to "practice" reacting to racism in non-violent ways. How ridiculous!
Scott also attempts to prove his thesis by stating that alcohol sometimes plays a role in hidden transcripts becoming public. I suppose he hasn't had much experience with alcohol or those who have partaken of alcohol, else he would realize this is painfully obvious and not a groundbreaking revelation.
I give the book 2 stars because of its readability and the obvious effort put into the research. However, I cannot recommend it, for it is a perfect example of historians who spend too much time in the office, and not enough time in the real world.
James C. Scott's Domination and the Arts of Resistance.......2000-11-12
Spanning the entire globe and covering over 1000 years of human history, James C. Scott's Domination and the Arts of Resistance is an intellectual odyssey into the relatively new field of subaltern studies. It is also an intellectual oasis for historians and general readers of history who have become disillusioned with the traditional historiography of power relations and resistance among dominate groups and subordinate groups. Indeed, Scott's use of folklore, speeches, ballads, literary theory,linguistics, and public ceremonies, e.g., parades and political rallies, greatly adds to the works of other innovative historians of culture, domination, and resistance, e.g., Scott gives the works of Michel Focault, Hayden White, Dominick LaCapra, and Natalie Zemon Davis, to name a few, new perspectives for cultural analysis. Perhaps of greater importance is Scott's examination of what he describes as "public" and "private" transcripts,i.e., dialogue among and between the dominate and subordinate groups. Furthermore, Scott puts great emphasis on the "infrastructure" of power relationships among the respective inner "communities" of theweak and the strong. In short, what goes on behind the scenes, away from the public eye, reveals the true nature of what Scott labels as "masks of power", which are, in effect, merely public performances designed to placate both dominate and subordinate groups. This absorbing work will certainly be influential for future generations of historians, anthroplogists, political scientists, and sociologists.
an epiphany on every page.......1999-05-14
"When the great lord passes the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts." This book marks one of those moments for me when rethink just about everything...from elusidating certain truisms to hammering out theories and ideas that ring remarkably true, Scott's book is challenging, powerful, and engaging. Reading this book is like sitting in his office conversing...I find myself exclaiming and agreeing aloud. I really enjoy his comments on gender; a concept I have felt comfortable with for years, and suddenly I feel as though he has just clarified it for me. I have been doing double-takes as random comments about women in my primary sources (about fickleness of emotion) which I thought I could chalk up to typical misogyny begin to catagorize themselves in my mind as the effects of attempting to live within hidden and public transcripts. Very readable, interesting, engaging...in a word, fabulous.
Book Description
Political or social groups wanting to commit mass murder on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious differences are never hindered by a lack of willing executioners. In Becoming Evil, social psychologist James Waller uncovers the internal and external factors that can lead ordinary people to commit extraordinary acts of evil. Waller debunks the common explanations for genocide- group think, psychopathology, unique cultures- and offers a more sophisticated and comprehensive psychological view of how anyone can potentially participate in heinous crimes against humanity. He outlines the evolutionary forces that shape human nature, the individual dispositions that are more likely to engage in acts of evil, and the context of cruelty in which these extraordinary acts can emerge. Illustrative eyewitness accounts are presented at the end of each chapter. An important new look at how evil develops, Becoming Evil will help us understand such tragedies as the Holocaust and recent terrorist events. Waller argues that by becoming more aware of the things that lead to extraordinary evil, we will be less likely to be surprised by it and less likely to be unwitting accomplices through our passivity.
Customer Reviews:
How a society's conscience becomes corrupted.......2007-04-24
It is not enough to reject evil; in order to exercise responsibility, we need to understand it. Then we can change the social factors that make evil more likely, or less likely.
That is what this book is about. Waller does not excuse evil acts because "society is at fault," nor is this simply an academic study. There are practical lessons here for how a society becomes corrupt, and how to prevent it. Like the poor, evil will always be with us. That does not mean we should be fatalistic about evil. It means that we should always be ready to address it.
Excellent theoretical model .......2007-01-10
for those who beome evil. I particularly enjoyed the evolutionary psychology and group dynamic approaches.
A complete, in depth analysis of extraordinary evil.......2006-07-26
Wow, this is a deep, powerful book. I gave it five stars because it was very complete. The author started with his proposal that ordinary people can commit evil, introduces a model of what influences/causes extraordinary evil, and follows up on what can and should be done to ease (impossible to halt entirely) the spread of evil. Interspersed in every chapter is a harrowing account of genocide told by the perspective of the victims or eyewitnesses.
Although I generally agree with the author's belief that ordinary people can commit evil, I did take issue with some of the methodology/tests he used. For instance, he used the anaylsis of the Rorschach test used on the Nazi... even though that test is inherently faulty. Still, he did back it up with more concrete and intriguing evidence. His model was well researched and he backed up his outline with different accounts.
Another positive aspect of the book, is that it alerts you about how many acts of genocide and crimes against humanity go unpunished or even unacknowledged by the perpetrators and the world. Its very disappointing and frustrating as is the author's note that the situation is not getting better and evil will never be fully stopped. All in all, its a great book and its very sobering and sad. I think everyone should read it.
Incredibly well-written........2006-06-03
I was always fascinated with the question of human cruelty and the history of genocides, and after researching review on Amazon.com, settled on this book by James Waller. I was 100% right. It's incredibly well-written. Very easy to read, written in clear language in short chapters. Thoroughly researched. James Waller references and examines all the works that have been written on this topic before. His conclusions are profound, and dare I say it, correct.
It's a flawless book. It brings together history and psychology in a language that is very relevant and easy to read on an very important subject. I'd recommend this to anyone without a hesitation. Not just educating, but also enjoyable.
It Could Happen to You.......2006-04-13
After buying this book and reading it myself, I loaned it to my brother and then gave it to my local library where I hope it will be read by many others.
Mr. Waller undertakes a difficult topic -- how it is that ordinary, moral, "law-abiding" human beings can change into perpetrators of genocide. The idea that something like this could happen to any one of us is frightening, indeed, but the best way to protect ourselves is to understand the process. Waller explains this clearly and helps us to understand that the Nazis and other genocidal groups were not insane or monstrous - they were normal people who had undergone a transformation which could occur to anyone in the "right" (i.e., "wrong") circumstances.
This book would be an important addition to libraries everywhere, and I also hope that it will be used in colleges, universities and even high schools.
Book Description
Are there any commonalities between such phenomena as soccer hooliganism, sabotage by peasants of landlords' property, road rage, and even the events of September 11? With striking historical scope and command of the literature of many disciplines, this book seeks the common causes of these events in collective violence. In collective violence, social interaction immediately inflicts physical damage, involves at least two perpetrators of damage, and results in part from coordination among the persons who perform the damaging acts. Charles Tilly argues that collective violence is complicated, changeable, and unpredictable in some regards, yet also results from similar causes variously combined in different times and places. Pinpointing the causes, combinations, and settings helps to explain collective violence and also helps to identify the best ways to mitigate violence and create democracies with a minimum of damage to persons and property. Charles Tilly is the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. He has published more than twenty scholarly books, including twenty specialized monographs and edited volumes on political processes, inequality, population change and European history.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for any Student of Collective Violence.......2007-05-05
One reason for political scientists to be wary of the analyses offered by their discipline is that sociologists have always been better at providing contemporary political analysis. Charles Tilly goes even further when he comes as a historical sociologist. In The Politics of Collective Violence, he provides, in a readable fashion, an analysis of collective violence through time and space.
By forcefully advancing the notion that collective violence is best explained when considered as a form of "contentious politics", Tilly dismisses the good versus evil dichotomy that seeks to understand any type of violence including collective violence as steaming from evil. By demonstrating the shortcomings of the type of collective violence analysis available so far ("ideal", "behavioral", and "relational"), he highlights relational analysis to tells us that it does not matter what people believe or what their genetic predispositions to violence are for collective violence. This is important because now we recognize individual responsibility without being able to raise anybody's moral superiority (p. 8).
The categories of collective violence provided in The Politics of Collective Violence (Violent rituals; coordinated destruction; opportunism; brawls; individual aggression--indeed; individual aggression is considered part of collective violence; scattered attacks; and broken negotiations) seem to include all types of collective violence known so far. Showing the functions of different actors, namely, the "political entrepreneurs" who differentiate between who is "us" and who is "them", the "violent specialists" who have tools necessary for carrying out damage (corporal, etc.), and, perhaps implicitly, the ordinary people who get co-opted, Tilly demonstrates how complex the task of identifying who is responsible is. This is complemented when he depicts how different types of state governments lead to different types of outcomes in collective violence.
Do not expect Tilly to be precise when it comes to facts (as for example when he calls the current president of Rwanda Paul Mugabe (the real name is Paul Kagame, or when he calls Hutus who opposed Habyarimana regime "dissidents" as if the regime was totalitarian like North Korea for instance and not authoritarian); however, whether or not he misses a fact or two does not affect the overall argument of the book--collective violence must be understood as a form of politics--is not affected. That is the power of history-based theory in explanation. Theory-based arguments are useful especially when one is dealing with policy recommendations such as policy recommendations for reducing collective violence as is the case in this book.
Tilly's book is a must for any student of collective violence. Different people will judge Tilly on, for instance, the type of boundaries that he stresses and other he does not, but, from now on, anyone studying collective violence from anywhere, anytime, will have to struggle with the arguments in The Politics of Collective Violence.
He did it again!.......2007-03-04
Charles Tilly, one of the most productive and creative sociologists of our time, is regaling us with one more theoretical landmark. Collective violence is not what it seems under our common sense eyes. We begin to see a new reality when we use the lens he has fashioned for us.
Book Description
"When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population." So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable.
Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa.
There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani's analysis provides a solid foundation for future studies of the massacre. Even more important, his answers point a way out of crisis: a direction for reforming political identity in central Africa and preventing future tragedies.
Customer Reviews:
interesting overview of complex situation.......2007-02-25
Mandani's book is not for everyone; it is written in a highly academic form and reads slowly. However, if you can get through it, there are fascinating revelations of the chronology and effect of the early colonialism upon the inhabitants of Rwanda that allow you to understand, once again, the lessons of history....that NOTHING happens in a vacuum....and we Westerners, we "great civilizers" have much to learn and much evolving to do.
I haven't finished it yet and I do wish it were an easier read...I would give it to people I know who really NEED to read it but who never will. It's just too hard.
Essential reading for anyone wanting to learn the truth about what happened in Rwanda and why!.......2006-07-01
This isn't about justifying the atrocious acts of Hutus against Tutsi in Rwanda, but about trying to understand WHY. There were reasons for the madness that went beyond ethnic differences. Read this book before passing judgement.
Heavy Sledding.......2006-01-02
Respected scholar Mahmood Mamdani offers his take on the causes of the Rwandan attempted genocide of the Tutsis and how Rwanda ought to handle the aftermath. A longtime denizen of the ivory tower, Mamdani is not writing for general audiences here: his prose is denser than a nineteenth century Supreme Court opinion and often makes finer distinctions.
There is a certain amount of this that is inevitable -- Mamdani is writing, at least partially, in response to people who have given facile explanations for the genocide (e.g. "the Hutus hated the Tutsis"), and his entirely justified reply is that it's not that simple. Mamdani makes a fascinating and very persuasive case for the exact historical causes of this particular genocide that differentiates it from other genocides of history -- colonialistic influence combining with pan-African political forces that pit nationalistic concerns against ethnic and political ones.
That said, and with full awareness that I don't have the talent to do what I'm asking Mamdani to do, I'd like to say that his argument would have gone over a lot better if he'd been better at phrasing it. His academic language was very difficult to penetrate, even by a well-intentioned postgraduate-educated guy like me. I got to thinking towards the end that he was getting a bonus every time he added "-ize" to a noun to make it a verb.
Mamdani's message that a lot of complicated problems combined to create the genocide -- from which it follows that people peddling simple, easy answers haven't been paying enough attention or are pandering to their audiences -- is important. I hope it is given deep consideration by the grad students who are best equipped with time and incentive to understand his prose, and I hope one of them figures out what I cannot: how to phrase his message in such a way that a lay audience will be willing to hear it.
When Victims become killers.......2005-08-09
A great book that is doing justice to the people that were rudely touched by the genocide. History plays a great part in influencing and explaining particular events that happen in the present but many people forget and view the event as inexplicable. Those who forget to ask the 'why' question are always liable to repeat the blunders of history since they never learn from its ugly mistakes. Prof. Mamdani is trying to undo this mistake. Many, especially in the west from their self righteous pedestal, look at the Rwandan genocide and judge. Mamdani goes behind the scenes of history to dig out the 'why' of this ugliest of human ventures. Drawing heavily on Franz Fanon, he casts a wide net covering the whole Great Lakes Region and Colonialism through the cold war, to tell us that the victims of injustice can only be free if they kill the oppressor. To become human they must deny life to the oppressor. The irony is, to overcome the monster of injustice, you must surpass its monstrosity, leading to the cycle of violence. Americans who read this book will come to understand better the whyness of 9/11; the Europeans will understand Hitler and Africans will grasp the whyness of so many coup d'etats, and finally an insight that is long overdue will dawn on us all and we will see the light. We will understand that without justice in the world those who work for peace labor but in vain. A must read book for serious peacemakers.
Reform the state and citizenship.......2005-01-14
Mahmood Mamdani is Professor of Government and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. His reputation as an expert in African history, politics and international relations has made him an important voice in contemporary debates about the changing role of Africa in a global context. Mamdani proposes that Burundi and Rwanda need to reform the state and citizenship within their own borders so that power recognizes equal citizenship rights for all based on a single criterion: residence. Without a reform in power, one that recognizes both the importance of a majority in politics and the need for fearful minorities to participate in the exercise of power, Mamdani maintains there can be no sustained reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi.
Reviewed by David S. Fick, Author of Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunities, STE Publishers, Johannesburg SA, May 2005, www.ste.co.za
Book Description
How can human beings kill or brutalize multitudes of other human beings? Focusing particularly on genocide, but also on other forms of mass killing, torture, and war, Ervin Staub explores the psychological, cultural, and societal roots of group aggression. He sketches a conceptual framework for the many influences on one group's desire to harm another: cultural and social patterns predisposing to violence, historical circumstances resulting in persistent life problems, and needs and modes of adaptation arising from the interaction of these influences. Such notions as cultural stereotyping and devaluation, societal self-concept, moral exclusion, the need for connection, authority orientation, personal and group goals, "better world" ideologies, justification, and moral equilibrium find a place in his analysis, and he addresses the relevant evidence from the behavioral sciences. Within this conceptual framework, Staub then considers the behavior of perpetrators and bystanders in four historical situations: the Holocaust (his primary example), the genocide of Armenians in Turkey, the "autogenocide" in Cambodia, and the "disappearances" in Argentina. Throughout, he is concerned with the roots of caring and the psychology of heroic helpers. In his concluding chapters, he reflects on the socialization of children at home and in schools, and on the societal practices and processes that facilitate the development of caring persons, and of care and cooperation among groups. A wide audience will find The Roots of Evil thought-provoking reading.
Customer Reviews:
Compelling analysis into the causes of mass violence and hope for the future.......2006-01-02
The Roots of Evil is an important book, both in its application of a comprehensive theoretical lens to the problem of mass violence and in its practical usefulness for efforts to prevent genocide from happening again. Staub explains how difficult conditions combine with social/political events to enable inter-group violence using detailed historical examples. His analysis shines light on the darkest actions of human beings, making sense of how neighbors can turn against each other. The book also offers hope that mass violence can be prevented, especially through efforts to humanize the "other" and speak out during the early events that can lead to genocide. In a world in which dehumanization remains all too common, this book will remain critical reading for years to come. It has been an inspiration for me, and for many others working in diverse fields related to peacebuilding. I recommend it highly.
An important book.......2005-12-19
This book, by one of today's most eminent genocide scholars, presents a simple to grasp analysis of the main human drives causing mass violence and genocide. Its ability to combine these drives into an easily understandable system makes it extremely useful for people that need to deal with this subject on the ground in combating ethnic violence. Professor Staub's book has inspired communication campaigns against the hatred fanning the genocide and mass killings in Rwanda, the DRC and Burundi. There, survivors of one of the last centuries' worst outbreaks of mass murder, find comfort in the way his analysis sheds light on how seemingly incomprehensible acts could be committed by the most seemingly normal people. around them.
A pompous plan for solving the world's problems..........2003-09-16
This book begins with the arrogant assertion that psychology in general, and the author in particular, can change mankind and create a "caring and compassionate" society in which genocide and all lesser forms of evil will be unthinkable. It then goes through several hundred pages of repetitive ramblings, introducing and summarily dismissing the theories of Hobbes, Freud, and many others, relegating Nietzche to the position of Hitler's ego, and ultimately arriving at a conclusion that could have been summed up in a short article: humans are frustrated by "difficult life conditions" (a phrase which grates on the mind with each repetition after the first 50 pages of overusage), which causes them to join together to lash out against those who they deem responsible. His interpretations of the causes of the four instances of genocide which he chooses to discuss seem absurd in some cases, and contradict themselves in others. The last two chapters outline the author's naive plan for the construction of a warm and fuzzy world of understanding and compassion. Even if his plan were plausible, his view of human nature is ultimately deluded and irrational, and it is therefore of no value. Some may say this reviewer is cynical or jaded, but I prefer realism to useless optimism. An authoritative book on the psychological drives behind mass killings which brings together the ideas of many great minds and uses convincing evidence to support itself would be most welcome. This, however, is not it.
Psychology and Political Violence.......2000-06-17
This book should be read by every political scientist interested in the role of mass violence in politics. It explores how politically salient identities can become the psychological basis for violence.
Book Description
Explore the lifelong psychological impact of war and violence on children
This book should stab the conscience of the world. No one can read its gripping account of the terrifying impact on children of modern war and remain unchanged.
--George McGovern, former U.S. Senator, South Dakota and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee
Customer Reviews:
No place to be a child.......2000-11-21
With children and violence a hot issue in America, this book focuses on the effects war has on children. Of course, injury and loss of loved ones are at the top of the list, but so are less obvious detriments like barriers to education and health care. It also discusses the mental impact that war and violence has on children for years to come. Final section transforms discussion from international wars to similar impacts for American children in violent inner cities.
Would like to see an update with new case studies like Sierra Leone, Iraq and Columbine. But, regardless, the book is still quite an eye-opener which can convince even the most hawkish warmonger that the "collateral" damage to youth from war/violence is long-term and potentially irreversible.
Book Description
Of the twenty-three Brazilian policemen interviewed in depth for this landmark study, fourteen were direct perpetrators of torture and murder during the three decades that included the 1964-1985 military regime. These "violence workers" and the other group of "atrocity facilitators" who had not, or claimed they had not, participated directly in the violence, help answer questions that haunt today's world: Why and how are ordinary men transformed into state torturers and murderers? How do atrocity perpetrators explain and justify their violence? What is the impact of their murderous deeds--on them, on their victims, and on society? What memories of their atrocities do they admit and which become public history?
Customer Reviews:
Garbage in, Garbage out.......2007-10-01
The final chapter is all you need to read -- and it will tell you that they learned nothing that hasn't been said more succinctly and compellingly by any number of other authors. In fact, just get Suedfeld's 'Psychology and Torture,' a somewhat flawed, but far more thorough and well-founded book.
This is a tedious and repetitive -- and very superficial -- book 'researching' 23 Brazilians involved with death squads or torture squads. There are 444 officially named perpetrators; only 3 of these 23 were on that official list -- so these were not the guys known to thousands of victims as the 'real' torturers or executioners. This, in short, is a totally unrepresentative sample.
On top of that, as several opening chapters explain, they all blatantly lied about what they did do -- one fellow a little less than the others. Yet their obviously shifty descriptions of how they got into doing the things they wouldn't admit ever doing (just sort stumbled or got sucked into it, or 'arbitrarily' assigned by supervisors), or how they felt about doing it and having done it (not guilty in the slightest), are taken as legitimate data and extended to torturers and mass killers in general.
Is it possible the job assignments weren't arbitrary, but based on specific organizational selection criteria? Since the authors assign the responsibility for these poor guys being turned into murderers and torturers largely to the hierarchical structure of elite paramilitary police organizations, and to 'socio-cultural' and 'political' pressures (we can't call it fascism, for some reason), then why not consider that there is a self-selecting and/or a deliberate screening aspect?
But they want so badly to make the point that 'anyone' could become a serial torturer or murderer, shades of John Watson, and that it doesn't take a 'born sadist.' No, but far better research strongly suggests it may take someone with an authoritarian personality style -- that is, someone prone to black-and-white, hierarchical, us-vs-them, stability-first interpersonal and world views. That makes dehumanizing the 'other' and following 'official policy and procedure' guiltlessly and at any cost a much more likely proposition.
Since they obliquely refer several times to the fact that many people were apparently 'too sensitive' or otherwise not macho or not 'committed' enough and therefore were given other assignments, they belie their shallow premise that 'anyone' will become 'an atrocity worker' under similar external circumstances.
At no time do they look at the positive reinforcement many people seem to get from exercising personal power over others, or the strong negative reinforcement of administering punishment in relieving frustration and anxiety. It is a truism that power corrupts, and that power is a most potent aphrodisiac, yet the development of a narcissistic or secondary sadism-based sense of gratification (aka 'pleasure') in sustaining the torture behavior or the wholesale killings is never even considered -- although it's right there, as the few hitmen who admit to some 'peripheral role' in death squads talk about the rush, the excitement. (As one Uruguayan victim said in the book 'A Miracle, A Universe,' the group of military men torturing her had the rude curiosity of little boys and the intense arousal of grown men.)
I recommend 'Lexicon of Terror' and 'At the Side of Torture Survivors' --where it becomes clear that despite the universal role politics and ideology play in initiating and authorizing brutal repression, a great many torturers really enjoy their work, and find in it an obscene, creative outlet.
Finally, the authors' concern about occupational 'burn-out' in these men -- several of them imprisoned for self-interested murder (not that they were possibly the type of irrational rogue cops they denounced)-- so absurd as to be right through the Looking Glass. Are we supposed to feel badly they had to give up their line of work due to stress and health or financial problems? Zimbardo assures the reader it is meant as a case of 'what goes around comes around,' but it doesn't read that way. It can't, when you have read about the victims blinded, castrated, brain-damaged, mutilated and 'gouged out' emotionally. No, these are just smug, lying, criminal cops who didn't get away quite as scot-free as the 441 others.
Police Torturers Examined.......2005-08-27
An outstanding book, that took courage to put together-- telling with credibility and compassion about the torture to which the Brazilian police & military subjected citizens whom they saw as on the "wrong" side politically. The authors bring to light an evil we thought went out of fashion with the Inquisition -- but here it is again in the 20th century. They make it clear that the propensity to torture is part of the human condition, that comes out in certain times of stress -- and that, sadly, very few people or nations can resist resorting to
Excellent effort, but a little weak........2004-09-11
I applaud the effort, skill, courage, and scholarship that went into this book. I found the subject captivating and the effort was obviously beyond that of most studies. For these reasons perhaps this work deserves four or even five stars. However, the language of presentation made it a bit dry. More importantly, some linkages seemed a bit forced. Perhaps it's because I'm a man or maybe because I'm not familiar with the ideas used, but the continued reference to masculinity effects seemed somewhat strained as if the main author was trying to push an agenda.
I also take issue with her categorization into bureaucratic, personalistic, and blended types of torturers. The sample of 24 alleged police torturers/murderers was too small and she seemed at times to assert that these were underlying personality categories. This part of the analysis seemed too tautological to me. Perhaps I'm being too critical given the current exploratory state of this area of scholarship.
Because of the importance of the subject matter, I categorize this book as a "must read" for anyone concerned about how civil bureaucracies can break away from public accountability and trend toward evil and the execution of the most horrendous atrocities despite being composed of "just normal men and women".
Book Description
Paranoia is not an obscure mental state afflicting some individuals but a widespread condition of modern societies, say the authors of this engrossing book. Robins and Post describe the paranoid personality, explain why paranoia is part of human evolutionary history, and examine the conditions that must exist before the message of the paranoid takes root in a vulnerable population, leading to mass movements and genocidal violence.
Customer Reviews:
Changing the politcal outlook.......2007-08-12
A great book not recommended for ideological prejudice - mind readers. It might be that our leaders whether political or religious, are driving more for his / her diminish sense of self than for ideology, creed or believe. Their "true followers/believers" sometimes are useful only for enhancing personal purposes derived from an internally damage - ego - ashamed - poorly personal sense -self.
Robins and Post reflect an outdated view from the FAR left!.......2000-07-30
James Jesus Angleton: These writers would have you believe that JJA was paranoid and there were no MOLES inside the CIA. The recent revelations about John Arthur Paisley and Aldridge Ames prove that JJA was sane, correct, and on the scent. Paisley?s death is a mystery that no one has yet explained! One of the few people who know the truth about Paisley, Senator Ted Kennedy, is NOT TALKING!
J. Edgar Hoover: He was the best counterintelligence director since George Washington's extensive intelligence organization during the Revolutionary War! One of the most interesting facts to emerge is the recent revelation that J. Edgar had an agent at the top levels of the Soviet Government that remained undetected. He deserves a lot of credit and there are a number of us out here that believe that 9/11 may not have happened had the FBI not deteriorated so much from the standards that J. Edgar established.
The carnage is not based in paranoia but in male biology........1999-01-15
The description of the urge to kill in the name of God and other ideologies is well chronicled in this book, as is the need to identify an "evil other." The authors, however, miss the forest for the well chronicled trees. The violence is rooted more in male biology than paranoid psychology. Male biology needs to form "teams" and violently compete with and exterminate each other, and it is extremely inventive in doing so, from football teams to religions.
Average customer rating:
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Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions
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Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Revised and Updated Edition
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Customer Reviews:
Genocide and violence.......2002-07-21
This book adds significantly to the far too small literature attempting to explain today's worldwide epidemic of genocide and ethnic violence. My generation believed we had ended all that by defeating the Nazis. Not so; there have been a couple of dozen major genocides since, and countless minor massacres. The book at hand is a collection of chapters by psychologists (and a few other social scientists). Most of the explanatory material is taken from the area of psychology best developed in this regard: the research on categorization, stereotyping, and stigmatizing. Among the best chapters is one by Erwin Staub, who has done some of the very finest research on genocide.
An important part of this book is a series of studies of situations that did NOT turn into genocide, in spite of having the potential to do so: South Africa, the southern US.... Now ironic is the inclusion of Israel; this book was written before the recent horrors. However, the chapter is valuable; it attributes the success of Israel to precisely those features that Sharon abolished. Sure enough--Sharon abolished them, and ethnic violence blew up...
The book under review emphasizes solutions. Notable among these is the absolute, desperate need for the world community of nations to intervene! ...
In any case, anyone concerned with genocide and ethnic war should read this book. It is thought-provoking and important.
Book Description
The modern era has generated a bewildering profusion of popular protest including widespread social movements and sporadic revolutionary upheaval. Despite the seemingly chaotic character of such collective action, social scientists have increasingly noted the remarkable regularities exhibited by even the most tumultuous social change. In this volume, sociologists, political scientists, and historians come together to assess the complementary concepts of repertoires and cycles as tools for illuminating the consistent patterns that emerge from the apparent chaos.
The significance of repertoiresârecurrent forms or tactics of social protestâ is explored in an essay on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain by the originator of the concept, Charles Tilly. Sidney Tarrow, whose work has most directly linked the concept of repertoires with that of cyclesâthe recurrent peaks and troughs in the historical incidence of collective actionâcontributes an essay that focuses on twentieth-century Italy. Other essays investigate the rhythms and logic of social change in contexts as diverse as sixteenth- through nineteenth-century Japan, nineteeth-century Europe, and twentieth-century America. Through inquiries into the consequences of violent repression for social mobilization, the struggle to control the linguistic terms of social conflict, the unacknowledged antecedents of contemporary movements, and the importance of "movement families," this volume demonstrates the usefulness of these two concepts and defines the relationship between them.
Collected from past issues of Social Science History, with a new introduction and two new essays, Repertoires and Cycles of Collective Action will reward an interdisciplinary audience of readers with the extraordinary vitality that emerges from this rich blend of historical perspectives.
Contributors. Charles Brockett, Craig Calhoun, Doug McAdam, Marc Steinberg, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly, Mark Traugott, James White
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