In the popular misconception fostered by blockbuster action movies and
best-selling thrillers--not to mention conventional explanations by
social scientists--violence is easy under certain conditions, like
poverty, racial or ideological hatreds, or family pathologies. Randall
Collins challenges this view in Violence, arguing that violent
confrontation goes against human physiological hardwiring. It is the
exception, not the rule--regardless of the underlying conditions or
motivations.
Collins gives a comprehensive explanation of violence and its dynamics,
drawing upon video footage, cutting-edge forensics, and ethnography to
examine violent situations up close as they actually happen--and his
conclusions will surprise you. Violence comes neither easily nor
automatically. Antagonists are by nature tense and fearful, and their
confrontational anxieties put up a powerful emotional barrier against
violence. Collins guides readers into the very real and disturbing
worlds of human discord--from domestic abuse and schoolyard bullying to
muggings, violent sports, and armed conflicts. He reveals how the fog of
war pervades all violent encounters, limiting people mostly to bluster
and bluff, and making violence, when it does occur, largely incompetent,
often injuring someone other than its intended target. Collins shows how
violence can be triggered only when pathways around this emotional
barrier are presented. He explains why violence typically comes in the
form of atrocities against the weak, ritualized exhibitions before
audiences, or clandestine acts of terrorism and murder--and why a small
number of individuals are competent at violence.
Violence overturns standard views about the root causes of violence
and offers solutions for confronting it in the future.
