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The International Handbook of Violence Research: brings together 62 articles written by famous authors from ten different countries; describes the long term development of relevant research and addresses current tendencies; pays special attention to sociological research, i.e. to violence as a social phenomenon; deals with various socio-structural relations and their impact on violence, socialization and the learning of violence, experiences of violence and violent activities, results of victimology, violence in the public space, and the use of violence by political groups or by state institutions; covers the whole dynamic process of violent activities: discourses, justifications, and interpretations of violence; provides analyses based on socio-psychological, historical, political and legal research or with a background in socio-biology or cultural studies; paints a complex picture that displays an area of complicated research on questions of order, destruction and power.
List of contents
From the contents:Preface. I: The Framework of the Handbook. 1. Violence: The Difficulties of a Systematic International Review. 2. The Concept of Violence. 3. The Long-term Development of Violence: Empirical Findings and Theoretical Approach to Interpretation.- II: Research on Violence: An Interdisciplinary Approach with a Focus on Social Sciences. 1. Societal Structures and Institutions: Social Conditions and State Agents. 2. Groups and Collectivities: Political and Ideological Violence. 3. Violent Individuals: Perpetrators and Motives. 4. Victims of Violence: Individuals and Groups. 5. Social Opportunity Structures: Institutions and Social Spaces. 6. Violence Discourses: Ideologies and Justifications.7. Processes and Dynamics: Escalation and De-Escalation.- III: Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Research on Violence. 1. Potentials and Limits of Qualitative Methods for Research on Violence. 2. Strategies and Problems in Quantitative Research on Aggression and Violence.- IV: Index (Topics). V: Index (Persons). V: The Authors.
About the author
Dr. Wilhelm Heitmeyer ist Professor an der Universität Bielefeld und Leiter des Instituts für interdisziplinäre Konflikt- und Gewaltforschung.
Summary
An international manual is like a world cruise: a once-in-a-lifetime experience. All the more reason to consider carefully whether it is necessary. This can hardly be the case if previous research in the selected field has already been the subject of an earlier review-or even several competing surveys. On the other hand, more thorough study is necessary if the intensity and scope of research are increasing without comprehensive assessments. That was the situation in Western societies when work began on this project in the summer of 1998. It was then, too, that the challenges emerged: any manual, espe cially an international one, is a very special type of text, which is anything but routine. It calls for a special effort: the "state of the art" has to be documented for selected subject areas, and its presentation made as compelling as possible. The editors were delighted, therefore, by the cooperation and commitment shown by the eighty-one contributors from ten countries who were recruited to write on the sixty-two different topics, by the con structive way in which any requests for changes were dealt with, and by the patient re sponse to our many queries. This volume is the result of a long process. It began with the first drafts outlining the structure of the work, which were submitted to various distinguished colleagues. Friedheim Neidhardt of Berlin, Gertrud Nunner-Winkler of Munich, and Roland Eckert of Trier, to name only a few, supplied valuable comments at this stage.
Additional text
From the reviews:
"In this unparalleled effort to survey comprehensively all areas of violence research, the editors bring together 63 articles by 80 authors. Topics covered run the gamut--war, the Holocaust, ethnic strife, domestic violence, violence against children, urban crime, aggressive driving, sports hooliganism….Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and higher.
(P. R. Sullivan, Choice, September 2004)
Report
From the reviews:
"In this unparalleled effort to survey comprehensively all areas of violence research, the editors bring together 63 articles by 80 authors. Topics covered run the gamut--war, the Holocaust, ethnic strife, domestic violence, violence against children, urban crime, aggressive driving, sports hooliganism....Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and higher.
(P. R. Sullivan, Choice, September 2004)
