Ambient Temperature and the Occurrence of Collective Violence: A South African Replication

A factor which is often cited in textbooks as causing or precipitating riots is temperature. The support given for this contention is usually the finding of the US Riot Commission relating to the role of the ‘long hot summer’ in riots and the archival study by Baron and Ransberger of the relationship between temperature and riots in the late 1960s in the USA. In this article the authors report a replication of Baron and Ransberger's study in a South African context. The relationship between temperature and riots in South Africa in the period 1960–1984 was examined. No relationship between temperature and riots was found and the seasonal distribution of riots was the obverse of that found by Baron and Ransberger. Possible social and climatological factors are proposed to account for the discrepancy in findings.