The Sociology of War and Violence

War Is A Highly Complex And Dynamic Form Of Social Conflict. This New Book Demonstrates The Importance Of Using Sociological Tools To Understand The Changing Character Of War And Organised Violence. The Author Offers An Original Analysis Of The Historical And Contemporary Impact That Coercion And Warfare Have On The Transformation Of Social Life, And Vice Versa. Although War And Violence Were Decisive Components In The Formation Of Modernity Most Analyses Tend To Shy Away From The Sociological Study Of The Gory Origins Of Contemporary Social Life. In Contrast, This Book Brings The Study Of Organised Violence To The Fore By Providing A Wide-ranging Sociological Analysis That Links Classical And Contemporary Theories With Specific Historical And Geographical Contexts. Topics Covered Include Violence Before Modernity, Warfare In The Modern Age, Nationalism And War, War Propaganda, Battlefield Solidarity, War And Social Stratification, Gender And Organised Violence, And The New Wars Debate-- Machine Generated Contents Note: Introduction: War, Violence And The Social; Part I. Collective Violence And Sociological Theory: 1. War And Violence In Classical Social Thought; 2. The Contemporary Sociology Of Organised Violence; Part Ii. War In Time And Space: 3. War And Violence Before Modernity; 4. Organized Violence And Modernity; 5. The Social Geographies Of Warfare; Part Iii. Warfare: Ideas And Practices: 6. Nationalism And War; 7. War Propaganda And Solidarity; Part Iv. War, Violence And Social Divisions: 8. Social Stratification, Warfare And Violence; 9. Gendering Of War; Part V. Organised Violence In The 21st Century: 10. New Wars?; Conclusion. Siniša Malešević. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction: war, violence and the social......Page 13 The cumulative bureaucratisation of coercion......Page 17 Centrifugal ideologisation......Page 20 The plan of the book......Page 23 Part I Collective violence and sociological theory......Page 27 Introduction......Page 29 The ‘holy trinity’ and organised violence......Page 30 Durkheim: pacifism, war and solidarity......Page 32 Marx: capitalism and revolutionary violence......Page 34 Weber: rationalisation through violence......Page 37 The bellicose tradition in classical social thought......Page 40 German belligerent statism......Page 41 Austro-American group struggle paradigm......Page 45 German sociological libertarianism......Page 48 Italian elite theory......Page 50 Anglo-American evolutionary theory......Page 53 Franco-German metaphysics of violence......Page 55 The contemporary relevance of bellicose thought......Page 57 Introduction......Page 62 The sources of violence and warfare: biology, reason or culture?......Page 63 Genetic seeds of warfare?......Page 64 Homo economicus and the violent conflict......Page 70 The cultural foundations of war and violence......Page 76 Organisational materialism: war, violence and the state......Page 82 From coercion to ideology......Page 91 Conclusion......Page 96 Part II War in time and space......Page 99 Introduction......Page 101 Collective violence before warfare......Page 102 War and violence in antiquity......Page 104 War and violence in the medieval era......Page 114 The institutional seeds of early modernity: war, violence and the birth of discipline......Page 121 Conclusion......Page 128 Introduction......Page 130 Modernity and violence: an ontological dissonance?......Page 131 The cumulative bureaucratisation of coercion......Page 132 The centrifugal ideologisation of coercion......Page 142 War and violence between ideology and social organisation......Page 153 Conclusion......Page 157 Introduction......Page 158 The old world......Page 159 China......Page 161 India......Page 165 The Ottoman Empire......Page 168 Russia......Page 171 Japan......Page 174 Sub-Saharan Africa......Page 177 Latin America......Page 180 North America......Page 182 Conclusion......Page 186 Part III Warfare: ideas and practices......Page 189 Introduction......Page 191 The naturalist fallacy......Page 192 The formative canard......Page 196 Centrifugal ideologisation and nationalism......Page 203 The cumulative bureaucratisation of coercion and nationalism......Page 208 Conclusion......Page 212 Introduction......Page 214 Social control......Page 215 Truth and deception......Page 219 The democratic origins of war propaganda......Page 223 Modernity of war propaganda......Page 227 Killing, dying and micro-level solidarity......Page 231 Conclusion......Page 244 Part IV War, violence and social divisions......Page 247 Introduction......Page 249 Stratification without collective violence?......Page 250 Stratification through war and violence......Page 254 Warfare and the origins of social stratification......Page 264 Justifying social hierarchies......Page 276 Conclusion......Page 285 Introduction......Page 287 The innate masculinity of combat?......Page 288 Cultural givens?......Page 296 The patriarchal legacy?......Page 300 War and the cumulative bureaucratisation of gender roles......Page 307 War and the centrifugal ideologisation of gender roles......Page 314 Conclusion......Page 319 Part V Organised violence in the twenty-first century......Page 321 Introduction......Page 323 The new-wars paradigm......Page 324 The sociology of new warfare......Page 327 Warfare between the nation-state and globalisation......Page 331 The objectives of contemporary wars......Page 336 What is old and what is new?......Page 341 Conclusion......Page 344 References......Page 348 Index......Page 371 "War is a highly complex and dynamic form of social conflict. This new book demonstrates the importance of using sociological tools to understand the changing character of war and organised violence. The author offers an original analysis of the historical and contemporary impact that coercion and warfare have on the transformation of social life, and vice versa. Although war and violence were decisive components in the formation of modernity most analyses tend to shy away from the sociological study of the gory origins of contemporary social life. In contrast, this book brings the study of organised violence to the fore by providing a wide-ranging sociological analysis that links classical and contemporary theories with specific historical and geographical contexts. Topics covered include violence before modernity, warfare in the modern age, nationalism and war, war propaganda, battlefield solidarity, war and social stratification, gender and organised violence, and the new wars debate"-- Provided by publisher