LIT 6.1 From peaceful marches to violent clashes: a micro-situational analysis Anne Nassauer Flashcards
What research method did Nassauer use to study the patterns leading to violence in protests?
The study utilises a mixed-methods approach, incorporating:
●Visual data, including professional and amateur footage from various sources like YouTube, offering detailed and reliable information about interactions and emotional cues as they occurred during protests.
●Document data, including police reports, protester accounts, media reports, and court documents, allowing for triangulation and confirmation of the information obtained from visual data.
The author employed a process-tracing methodology, reconstructing each protest event minute-by-minute to identify the causal mechanisms leading to violence.
What is the systematic pattern of violence eruption in protests? (Nassauer 2016)
**Phase 1: Increase of Tension and Fear
**○Specific group interactions between protesters and police, such as property damage, communication breakdown, and perceived threats, lead to heightened tension and fear.
○This emotional escalation is often fuelled by rumours and misinterpretations of the other side’s intentions, leading to a perception of danger, even if unjustified.
○Visual data analysis reveals emotional cues indicative of fear in both protesters and police officers prior to the outbreak of violence.
○The study identifies a “temporal danger zone” of 1-3 hours after the protest begins, during which violence is most likely to erupt.
**Phase 2: Release into Violence
**
○This phase involves the release of built-up tension through “emotional dominance,” where one side establishes a situational advantage over the other, perceived or real, enabling them to overcome the inhibition to violence.
○The study identified three key triggering moments that facilitate emotional dominance and often precede violence:
■Breaking-up of police-protester lines: Creates isolated individuals who appear as weaker targets, making it easier to establish dominance.
■Falling down: Individuals who fall or stumble become vulnerable targets, lowering the inhibition threshold for violence against them.
■Being outnumbered: Individuals outnumbered in a micro-situation are more likely to be dominated, leading to violence.
○These triggering moments often occur in combination, further facilitating the establishment of emotional dominance.
○The intensity and nature of violence are influenced by the balance of emotional power between the two sides.
What are the findings on how violent situations can be ended? (Nassauer 2016)?
●Ending Violent Situations
○Decisive shouting can disrupt the perpetrator’s sense of dominance and stop violence, potentially by being mistaken for orders from superiors.
○Screaming, on the other hand, appears to reinforce the impression of a weak victim, potentially escalating tension and violence.
