Abstract
Having been asked to teach on an undergraduate course on violence for the first time this term, Violence and Society by Larry Ray was the perfect summer reading. It provides an excellent analysis of many forms of violence and opens your eyes to the fact that violence is not as straightforward as many people think. The author has a vast array of experience researching in the field, from the ethno-nationalist civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, to projects on racial violence as part of the ESRC’s Violence Research Programme. This experience is evident in the way in which he has constructed and written the book.
From the outset, Ray makes clear the intentions of the book. He examines various modalities of violence, using mainly Elias’s (1994) theory of the civilizing process, and develops an understanding of violence in the modern world. He also states that ‘if a theory is to guide our understanding of the social then it needs to be expressed clearly and define what it will and will not permit, which Elias did not always do’ (p. 2), so he needs to draw on the work of other sociologists in order to look at the many different aspects of violence. Ray draws on the work of Randall Collins throughout the book, in particular concerning the interactions between individuals that allow violence to happen. He argues that it is important to acknowledge these interactions when discussing the geographical distribution of violence. In relation to Collins, Ray also talks of the ‘micro dynamics’ of violent situations. This includes when people are confronted with violent situations, either as bystanders or as victims. This is something that is done very well. Even those with a limited understanding of criminological and sociological theories will find his arguments and explanations easy to follow and understand. Violence can be a tricky concept to define and understand. Ray acknowledges this and highlights the debates that surround different types of violence and why it is so difficult to obtain a broad definition of violence. Ray has tried to cover many modalities of violence in this book, and to do this in fewer than 200 pages was always going to be a difficult task.
During the UK riots in August 2011, the term ‘senseless violence’ was used frequently by the media, police and general public. I too saw this type of violence as ‘senseless’. Not until I read Violence and Society did I see how wrong I was. Ray argues that violence is very rarely ‘senseless’ and, while I was reading the book, the UK riots and other social issues in the UK were never far from my mind. The following extract summarizes this well: …violence nearly always has a ‘sense’, that is, social meaning, to both perpetrators and victims. The targets of violence are rarely chosen randomly and victims and perpetrators are often already known to each other…Even if some violent perpetrators act because of a pathology, the specific timing and nature of their actions will have meaning. (p. 6)
This is further emphasized throughout the book. Ray takes specific instances of violence and places them in the context of the nature of modern society. It is somewhat unfortunate that the book was written before the riots, as I would be interested to know how Ray would relate Elias’s civilization thesis, as well as Collins’s (2008, 2009) notion that we do not seek to become involved in violent actions, to the events of August 2011. Collins argues that violent incidents lead to high levels of confrontational tension-fear and that violence will only happen when there is a mechanism in place to avoid such confrontational tension-fear. It would have been interesting to note what the mechanisms or pathways are that lead people to become involved in violent riots. I am certain that Ray would have commented on this. Yet, in saying that, the importance of this book has increased in the aftermath of these events, when writers and academics are trying to make ‘sense’ of what happened. That is not to say that he could not have included reference to other riots that have occurred in the country (for example, Bradford or Brixton). This type of ‘mob mentality’ violence is ignored in this book. It is one of the few modalities of violence that Ray does not address. This is a surprising omission, given the way in which Ray has focused on Elias’s civilizing process. It would be fascinating to read Ray’s opinion on this and on questions such as: is violence so normalized in the world today that people feel it is an acceptable form of rebellion or demonstration? How does an organized, peaceful demonstration turn into a violence-fuelled riot?
Where Ray has applied the civilizing process, he has done it very well. One of the most impressive ways in which this is done is in the section on hegemonic masculinity, which is impressive, because of the subtlety of its inclusion. Ray takes the reader through the importance of the concept of hegemonic masculinity but does not let us forget the importance of the concept of civility, making us remember what Violence and Society has set out to do. Ray does not force the issue onto the reader, but merely makes a small comment to enable the reader to make the connections between many writers on the topic for themselves. The following extract is an example of how Ray achieves this: While a willingness to fight is seen as an attribute of the hegemonic masculine identity, this needs to be balanced by the point, following Elias, that physical fighting contradicts societal and individual aspirations to civility and is not therefore a hegemonic norm. (p. 90)
Regarding the structure of the book, Violence and Society is divided into ten clear chapters. The first two chapters give the reader an interesting discussion on what violence is, the difficulties in defining the concept and its cultural context within the evolution of modern societies. Ray acknowledges the difficulties in defining violence and he also makes it clear that he is not using this book to try and develop a definition for violence. To do so would mean having to consider the many different fields that violence spans such as sociology, criminology, psychology and biology. That would be a task that lies outside the scope of this book. The book is more concerned with placing different modalities of violence in the context of sociological and criminological theories. He uses classic criminological theories in order to explain the historical origin of violence. The book then goes on to discuss Elias’s civilizing thesis and applies it to different modalities of violence, such as hate crime and masculinity, before discussing Bauman’s ‘modernity thesis’. Ray also places violence in a historical context through the use of Elias’s framework. Missing from the book was a section on violence against children. Students are often looking for texts that they can relate to case studies in this area. The omission of such high-profile cases such as those of Baby P or Joseph Fritzl is notable in this regard.
Violence and Society is easy to read and follow, making the text perfect for an undergraduate student delving into the field of violence. It helps to place many criminological theories in context. Postgraduate students will also find the book useful as a starting point for further research into violence. I enjoyed reading this book and will be recommending it to colleagues as an essential text on many criminology modules. While it is not a comprehensive enough text to be a single core text on a module, it is a great introduction for anyone looking to further their knowledge in the subject.