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Violence and Nonviolence
Pathways to Understanding



February 2003 | 360 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

"Gregg Barak's Violence and Nonviolence is a thoughtful, comprehensive examination of violence in the United States. Structurally and conceptually this book works. Barak addresses violence in an interdisciplinary way, addressing history, psychology, biology, cultural studies, and sociology. Moreover, Barak does an excellent job of discussing the intersection of race, class, and gender and those relationships with violence."

-- Heather Melton, University of Utah

 

 "Clearly, the strength of this book is its comprehensive and reciprocal approach. I found this to be an enjoyable and provocative book… that treats the topic holistically and offers a vision for overcoming current patterns of violence. I am convinced that this is an important work that will ultimately be well-received by undergraduates, graduate students, violence specialists, and general readers."

 -- Mathew T. Lee, University of Akron

 

"I think that the strengths of this book are twofold: Barak's approach disaggregates violence into interpersonal, institutional, and structural violence which is very important yet rarely done; the latter part of the book explores the pathways to nonviolence, an underrepresented area in the study of violence."

--Charis Kubrin/Sociology, George Washington University

 

"I have devoted close to 20 years studying and teaching about violence and I must say that this is a comprehensive book....I strongly believe that Barak has done an outstanding review of the extant literature and touches upon key issues of central concern to those of us who are social scientific experts on violence."

--Walter Dekeseredy, Ohio University

 

Violence and Nonviolence: Pathways to Understanding is the first book to provide an integrative, systematic approach to the study of violence and nonviolence in one volume. Eminent scholar and award-winning author Gregg Barak examines virtually all forms of violence—from verbal abuse to genocide—and treats all of these expressions of violence as interpersonal, institutional, and structural occurrences. In the context of recovery and nonviolence, Barak addresses peace and conflict studies, legal rights, social justice, and various nonviolent movements. Employing an interdisciplinary framework, Barak emphasizes the importance of culture, media, sexuality, gender, and social structure in developing a comprehensive theory of these two separate, but inseparable phenomena.

 

This innovative and accessible volume includes

    • Figures, tables, and illustrations that reinforce important concepts and relationships
    • Introduces a new, original theory of reciprocal violence and nonviolence
    • Numerous case studies on violence and recovery throughout the book
    • Chapter summaries and review questions to aid student comprehension
    • Models of nonviolence such as "mutuality," "altruistic humanism," "positive peacemaking," and "resiliency"

 

Designed to be a core text for graduate and undergraduate courses on violence in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, and social work departments, Violence and Nonviolence is also an outstanding supplementary text for violence against women and criminal behavior courses. This book will transform the way students and readers think about violence, nonviolence, and the reciprocal relationship between the two.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgements
 
INTRODUCTION - Secrets of Violence and Nonviolence
Decreasing Violence and Increasing Nonviolence

 
Feelings and Structures

 
Private and Public Shame

 
A Germ Theory of Violence and Nonviolence

 
Violent and Nonviolent Rhetoric, Youth at Risk, and Implications for Peacemaking

 
Violence Against Youth Is More Important Than Violence by Youth

 
Organization of the Book

 
References

 
 
PART I: TYPES OF VIOLENCE
 
Chapter One: Violence in Perspective
Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Violence: An Alternative Perspective

 
Violence as an Integral Part of American Life

 
American Violence in Historical Perspective

 
American Violence in Contemporary Perspective

 
American Violence in Comparative Perspective

 
A Reciprocal Approach to Studying Violence

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Two: Interpersonal Violence
Box 2.1 Harrassment and Silence

 
Homicide

 
Box 2.2 Serial Killer

 
Box 2.3 Retaliatory Bombing

 
Box 2.4 Homosexual Panic Leading to Murder

 
Box 2.5 Rape and Homicide

 
Box 2.6 Situated Transactions

 
Box 2.7 Altruisitic Killings

 
Box 2.8 Motherhood and Mental Illness

 
Juvenile Victimization

 
Box 2.9 Homosexual Juvenile Homicide

 
Box 2.10 College Murder

 
Box 2.11 High School Homicide

 
Box 2.12 The Smiling Gunman

 
Physical and Sexual Child Abuse

 
Box 2.13 Rapist Returns

 
Rape

 
Box 2.14 Elder Rape and Murder

 
Stalking

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Three: Institutional Violence
Box 3.1 Rampage in Central Park

 
Box 3.2 The Hamburg Riot, 1876
Supremacy (2000)

 
Box 3.3 The Birmingham Church Bombing, 1963

 
Family Violence

 
Box 3.4 "Silence Ending About Abuse in Gay Relationships"

 
Childhood Maltreatment

 
School Violence

 
Box 3.5 Youth Sports and Violence

 
Gang Violence

 
Box 3.6 Do or Die

 
Police and Penal Violence

 
Box 3.7 Police Torture

 
Box 3.8 The Rampart Scandal

 
Box 3.9 New Jersey Turnpike Shootings

 
Box 3.10 Private Youth Prisons

 
Box 3.11 Danger on Death Row

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Four: Structural Violence
Box 4.1 Child Slave Labor

 
Postcolonial Violence

 
Box 4.2 Genocide in the Americas

 
Corporate Violence

 
Box 4.3 The Tobacco Industry

 
Box 4.4 The ValuJet Crash

 
Box 4.5 The Auto Industry

 
Underclass Violence

 
Box 4.6 Hate Crimes Against the Homeless

 
Terrorist Violence

 
Institutional-Structural Violence

 
Box 4.7 The War on Kids

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART II: PATHWAYS TO VIOLENCE
 
Chapter Five: Explanations of Violence
Ad Hoc Explanations: General and Family Violence

 
Life-Course Models of Human Behavior: Causation, Time, and Violence

 
On the Reciprocity of Violent and Nonviolent Pathways

 
A Reciprocal Theory of Violence

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Six: Media and Violence
Mass Media, Columbine, and the Middle East

 
Box 6.1 A Dialogue on Media and Violence

 
Box 6.2 Tania Modleski's Tale

 
America's Fascination With Mediated Violence

 
Violence and Media Context: The Direct and Indirect Effects

 
Mass Media: Production, Distortion, and Consumption

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Seven: Sexuality and Violence
Philosophizing About Sexuality

 
Nature, Nurture, and Human Evolution

 
On Aggression and Nonaggression

 
Marking the Sexualities of Difference and Hierarchy

 
Box 7.1 The Dialectics of Sexuality and the New Pornography

 
Box 7.2 Sexuality, Androgyny, and Sadomasochism

 
Sexual Difference, Gender Identity, and Violence

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
PART III: PATHWAYS TO NONVIOLENCE
 
Chapter Eight: Recovering From Violence
A Reciprocal Approach to Violence Recovery

 
Box 8.1 Battered Women, Welfare, Poverty, Reciprocal Violence, and Recovery

 
Interpersonal Recovery

 
Institutional Recovery

 
Box 8.2 Films, Recovery, and Vigilantism

 
Structural Recovery

 
Box 8.3 Terrorism, Counterterrorism, Energy, and Recovery

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Nine: Models of Nonviolence
On the Paradigms of Adversarialism and Mutualism

 
A Brief History of Nonviolent Struggle (1900-2000)

 
Models of Nonviolence

 
Positive Peacemaking

 
Summary

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Chapter Ten: Policies of Nonviolence
A Summary Review of Victimization and the Pathways to Violence

 
A Review and Critique of the Adversarial War on Violence

 
Mutualism and the Struggle for Nonviolence

 
Nonviolent Policies That Prevent Antisocial Pathways to Violence

 
Nonviolent Policies That Build Pathways to Positive Peace, Human Rights, and Social Justice

 
Transformative Justice and Pathways to Violence and Nonviolence

 
References

 
Review Questions

 
 
Index
 
About the Author

"Gregg Barak’s Violence and Nonviolence is a thoughtful, comprehensive examination of violence in the United States. Structurally and conceptually this book works. Barak addresses violence in an interdisciplinary way, addressing history, psychology, biology, cultural studies, and sociology. Moreover, Barak does an excellent job of discussing the intersection of race, class, and gender and those relationships with violence."

Heather Melton
University of Utah

 "Clearly, the strength of this book is its comprehensive and reciprocal approach. I found this to be an enjoyable and provocative book… that treats the topic holistically and offers a vision for overcoming current patterns of violence. I am convinced that this is an important work that will ultimately be well-received by undergraduates, graduate students, violence specialists, and general readers."

Mathew T. Lee

"I think that the strengths of this book are twofold: Barak’s approach disaggregates violence into interpersonal, institutional, and structural violence which is very important yet rarely done; the latter part of the book explores the pathways to nonviolence, an underrepresented area in the study of violence."

Charis Kubrin
George Washington University

"I have devoted close to 20 years studying and teaching about violence and I must say that this is a comprehensive book....I strongly believe that Barak has done an outstanding review of the extant literature and touches upon key issues of central concern to those of us who are social scientific experts on violence."

Walter Dekeseredy
Ohio University

This is the book that has been used in the past for this class and seems to be the most fitting for the subject.

Mrs Heather Harmon
Department of Social and Public Health, Ohio University
December 20, 2011

The book is a strong fit for the course objectives of Sociology of Violence and Culture. I also like the variety of information it presents on peacemaking and alternative dispute resolution methods, these are concepts that I believe my students (many of whom are in law enforcement or victim assistance programs) will find beneficial in their professional lives.

Ms Mitzi Hicks
Sociology, Red Rocks Community College
September 12, 2011
Key features
  • Broader perspective than similar books - looks at roots of both violence and non-violence, along with recovery from violent behavior.
  • Also looks at both criminal and non-criminal violent behavior. An example of the latter would be police use of violence.
  • Case studies integrated throughout to provide real-life examples.
  • Summaries and review questions close each chapter.
  • Barak has his own website with a variety of papers and other useful information.

 

Sage College Publishing

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