Lec 10 - Collective violence between civilians and the state Flashcards
What is anti-colonial violence?
Context of riot against the state
- Violence is the fundament of colonial power and exploitation
Decolonization is by definition a violent process
- Colonized have right and duty to use violence: all means permitted in decolonial struggle
- Liberatory motivation
- Replacement of one group by another
- Unifies people
What are the lenses used to what causes violence during protest?
*Crowd psychology
*Relative deprivation and the J-
Curve hypothesis
*Political opportunity theory
*Emotions
What is Le Bon’s crowd psychology?
- Protest violence as reflexive and irrational
- Emotions reduced to biology and contrasted with rationality
What was the consensus in early social movement studies? 60-70’s
Protest as rational
Violence and disruption can be used strategically
Protest violence as a question of opportunities and costs
What is Relative Deprivation Theory?
The idea that violent protest follows from grievances
- People who feel deprived
What is Davies 1969 J-Curve Hypotheses
What is the criticism on the J-curve and Relative Depriviation?
*Takes for granted the link between individually experienced frustration and its
social manifestation in violence
*Limited attention to interactional dynamics
*Missing link: anger not frustration leads to mobilization
What is Political Opportunity Theory? Tarrow, McAdam, Tilly
*Social movements develop
-Not because of (relative) grievances
-But because changes in political context allow grievances to be heard
-1) Increasing political pluralism; 2) decline in
repression; 3) division within elites; 4) increased
political enfranchisement (Meyer 2004)
-Example: political instability produces more radical
opposition and violent escalatio
What is the constructivist/cultural perspective?
*Social movements and identity
construction
*Criticism of previous theories
-Collective goals and collective identity changes over time
-Not only cause of collective mobilization
-But also its product
*“New Social Movements:” from
economy to identity
*Alberto Melucci, Alain Touraine,
James Jasper, Hank Johnston, Donatella della Porta
What is Donatella della Porta’s research on Social Movements and Political Violence?
*Cultural processes in the development
of protest violence
-Radical ideologies engender radical violent repertoires only when political opportunities
trigger escalation
-State repression creates martyrs, myths, and injustice frame
*Violence often outcome of cycle of
protest
-Protest repertoires radicalize at the margins
-In particular during street battles with adversaries and police
*Interactional and processual perspective
-Testing “hard techniques”
-“Radical sectors” of movements and counter-movements
-But also: movements internally enforce nonviolence
What are Emotions and Social movements studies?
Emotions and social movements (1990s-now)
*Inspired by cultural turn in social
sciences
-Emotions shaped by cultural understandings
and norms
*How emotions figure into mobilization and identity construction
-But avoid account of emotions as irrational
*Jeff Goodwin, James Jasper, Francesca Polletta
, Hank Johnston
What are Scattered Attacks?
*
Violent tactics in the context of mostly
nonviolent protest
-
Strategy of radical groups
*
Example: 2008 Greek riots
What are Broken Negotiations?
When initially nonviolent
protest becomes violent
in response to authorities’
unresponsiveness
-Emotional response to
being ignored
What are the two emotional management mechanisms?
*Fear abatement
*Anger spirals
Explain Fear Abatement Mechanism
The “Fear Abatement Mechanism” in the context of riots refers to the psychological process where individuals overcome their fear of participating in collective action, such as a riot.
Here’s a breakdown:
- Understanding the Fear: People naturally fear the consequences of participating in riots, such as arrest, injury, or even death. This fear can prevent them from joining the protest.
-
The Mechanism: The Fear Abatement Mechanism describes how this fear is overcome. It can involve several factors:
- Seeing others participate: When individuals witness others joining the riot without facing immediate repercussions, it can lower their perceived risk.
- Collective effervescence: The shared excitement and energy of a crowd can create a sense of anonymity and reduce individual fear.
- Moral outrage: Strong feelings of injustice or anger can override the fear of consequences.
- Diffusion of responsibility: In a large crowd, individuals may feel less personally responsible for their actions, reducing their individual fear.
Important Note: This concept doesn’t condone or justify rioting. It simply aims to explain the psychological factors that can lead individuals to overcome their fear and participate in such events.
What is the Anger-spiral mechanism
The “anger-spiral mechanism” describes how anger can escalate and fuel further violence during a riot. Here’s a simplified explanation:
- Triggering Event: A specific event, such as police brutality or social injustice, sparks initial anger and protest.
-
Escalation:
- Perceived injustice: When protesters feel that their grievances are not addressed or that they are being unfairly treated by authorities (e.g., excessive force), their anger intensifies.
- Retaliation: Acts of violence by authorities (e.g., excessive force, arrests) can further fuel anger and lead to retaliatory violence by protesters.
- De-individuation: In the heat of the moment, individuals may lose their sense of individual identity and become more susceptible to the influence of the crowd and engage in more aggressive behavior.
- Cycle of Violence: This cycle can continue to escalate as acts of violence by protesters provoke further responses from authorities, leading to a vicious cycle of anger and retaliation.
Key Characteristics:
- Positive Feedback Loop: Anger and violence feed on each other, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.
- Dehumanization: Protesters and authorities may dehumanize each other, making it easier to justify violence against them.
- Loss of Control: The situation can quickly spiral out of control, making it difficult to de-escalate and restore order.
