Article 1b: Violence: from theory to research (Zahn & Brownstein, 2004)

Question 1

5 criteria for a good theory

Answer 1

1. Parsimony (when there are multiple ways to explain observed data, the simplest one is preferred).
2. Originality
3. Testability
4. Generizability
5. Validity

Question 2

Collective violence theory in research

Answer 2

Has lagged far behind on psychological, interpersonal and structural theories of violence. The existing theories often treat violence as a variation of crime or deviance, rather than a subject to be discussed on its own merits. This is problematic, because this assumes that violent behaviour is often not normative, while it is often socialised behaviour (like spanking a child was). Besides this, crime and deviance is often studied when trying to study violence, instead of studying the actual violent behaviour.

Question 3

The degrees of ‘violence’ as a definition

Answer 3

1. The level of the action/ behaviour: individuals, interpersonal, or collective.
2. The nature and degree of force: physical or not.
3. The outcome of force: physical, hurting, degrading, depriving etc.
4. The targets: recipients of force, or properties.
5. Intentionality: whether harm is intended or not.