LEC 2 - Joining Groups

Question 1

What are the layers of collective violence?

Answer 1

Layers of collective violence

Individual: why an individual joins a violent group

Intra-group: processes within the group that contribute to collective violence
(radicalization, polarization of the attitude of the group)

Inter-group: dynamics between groups that contribute to collective violence (group conflicts)

“Theories of collective violence have lagged far behind psychological, interpersonal, and even structural theories of violence.” - Zahn et al, 2004

Question 2

What is the appeal of violent groups?

Answer 2

Violence is:
- Intense (adrenaline rush)
- Risky
- Mechanism of power/control
- Generates fear in others
- Gendered (associated more with men than women;
traditional masculinity)

Key concept: Violent groups constitute a particularly powerful way to meet needs and fulfill motivations

Question 3

Why do people feel like they do not matter?

Answer 3

▸Bullying
▸Child abuse/neglect
▸Lack of opportunities

Question 4

What is Significance Quest Theory by Kurglanski?

Answer 4

▸Premise 1 (the need for significance): Humans havea basic need to have social worth and to matter to others. We call this need the need for significance.
▸Premise 2: The need for significance is satisfied by the sense of realizing, or matching, a value cherished by the community/culture whose standards one internalized.
▸Premise 3: Different groups may cherish different values (although some values, such as the group’s survival and security, may be common across groups).
▸Premise 4: The need for significance may be gratified via different behaviours matching/expressing different cherished values and/or by different (equifinal) behaviours matching/expressing the same cherished value

Question 5

What is the role of belonging (to a group)

Answer 5

• Experimental study Orehek& Kruglanski, 2018
  o Participants experienced success or failure on an experimental task (made to appear important)
  o Measured their sense of significance afterwards
  o Participants who experienced failure valued interdependence and social relationships more than those who experienced success

Question 6

What is the role of ideology in violent groups?

Answer 6

Ideology
Ideology refers to the content of “what it means” to belong to the group
- Related to world views (Hamm, 2004)
- System of beliefs about what the world should be like
- Morality
- Socio-political
- What is right/wrong?
- How can we live good and meaningful lives?
- What does our future look like?

Ideological conflict
- Problem: the world is not as it should be → another group is preventing us from living out our values
- Violent ideologies: violence is considered acceptable to achieve aims (we can’t compromise and the other party cannot compromise, so the situation will most likely escalate, extreme tactics to live out the wanted ideologies)
- The status quo is intolerable

Question 7

What is the role of Ideology on the individual level?

Answer 7

Ideology is not very important in the individual’s decision to join an ideological group → they may already be interested in the group of involved in the sphere of the group.
So… what is the function of ideology?
Book ‘Healing from hate’ by Michael Kimmel

“It wasn’t the ideology that interested me,” he said. “It was the military machinery, the warfare. I loved war - the fighting, the pageantry and the glory.” The Nazi part was more of a “protest,” a way to get attention. (Kimmel, p.79)

“Usually they didn’t really have a political position, but for whatever reason they’d decided it was cool to be right wing. The first thing I did when I met one of these boys was to […] act a lot like an older brother […] I’d always slip in a bit of ideology against foreigners along the way, saying some racist things like how there are such big differences between the white and black races, for example. But only casually at first.” (Kimmel, p.49)

Question 8

What is the role of Ideology on a group-level?

Answer 8

Ideology matters once you’re in the group → it holds the group together and justifies collective violence

Question 9

What attracts people to join a violent group?

Answer 9

The feeling that they dont matter, and will do in a group by obtaining

• Superiority
• Power
• Esteem/Status
• Reputation
• Purpose/Mission
• Belonging