Why is Collective Violence Collective?

A theory of collective violence must explain both why it is collective and why it is violent. Whereas my earlier work addresses the question of why collective violence is violent, here I apply and extend Donald Black's theory of partisanship to the question of why violence collectivizes. I propose in general that the collectivization of violence is a direct function of strong partisanship. Strong partisanship arises when third parties (1) support one side against the other and (2) are solidary among themselves. Such support occurs when third parties are socially close to one side and remote from the other and when one side has more social status than the other. Third parties are solidary when they are intimate, culturally homogeneous, and interdependent. I focus in particular on lynching: Lynching is a joint function of strong partisanship toward the alleged victim and weak partisanship toward the alleged offender. Unequal strong partisanship appears in both classic lynchings (of outsiders) and communal ynchings (of insiders) across societies and history. Where partisanship is weak or strong on both sides, lynching is unlikely to occur. Evidence includes patterns of lynching in various tribal societies, the American South, imperial China, and medieval Europe.     

Collective violence in China, 1880–1980

Conclusion This article began by noting that certain current theories of rural violence, predicated upon the demise of the peasantry, are of limited applicability to China. However, it is not my intention to argue that China scholars should therefore feel free to ignore general theories altogether. Quite the contrary. As the preceding discussion has tried to show, general theories are of considerable value in illuminating our understanding of specific cases of raphy cleaves to a rigid five modes of production approach, in recent years alternative arguments have gained some currency. The least innovative of these alternatives is a resurrected Asiatic Mode of Production theory, an approach whose main appeal lies in its claim to Marxist legitimacy. Though Marx and Engels should be credited for the recognition that hypotheses developed to account for West European history may be ill-suited to explain the social history of India or China, their resort to an Asiatic Mode has, quite properly, drawn criticism. For one thing, Asian societies differed markedly among themselves. For another, the allegedly despotic political systems of Asian countries did not in fact prevent substantial socioeconomic change over time.Despite these familiar criticisms, however, in some respects the theory is of interest to the student of China. As Marx described it, the foundation of Oriental despotism was actually collective property, in most cases created through a combination of manufacture and agriculture within the small community which thus becomes entirely self-sustaining... The key to a powerful state, in other words, was the strength and isolation of local corporate communities. The theory is interesting for the attention it focuses upon two elements: the state and local collectivities.Recently in China, a number of theorists - while rejecting many of the assumptions of the Asiatic Mode - have nevertheless retained its concern with state and local society. Some theorists, characterizing the Chinese polity as an ultrastable system (chaowending xitong), have stressed bureaucratic continuity. They emphasize the homeostatic properties of the imperial political system: flexibility provided through peasant rebellions, migration, partible inheritance, and the like. Such safety-valves, these theorists suggest, allowed periodic changes in the ruling elite, but no fundamental alteration of the strong state structure itself.Other theorists, emphasizing China's small-peasant economy (xiaonong jingji), look to the peculiarities of traditional Chinese agriculture for the key to her historical experience. Chen Ping, for example, identifies the Chinese concentration on grain production, in contrast to Europe or the United States where grain production has been balanced by animal husbandry and forestry, as a critical factor. By his account, the mixture of agricultural pursuits in the West encouraged a division of labor, commercialization, and scientific progress. The Chinese system, by contrast, stunted such developments and served instead as a secure foundation for landlord-bureaucratic domination. According to Chen Ping, it was small-peasant agriculture that constituted an ultrastable economic structure (chaowending de jingji jiegou). Although particular dynasties came and went in periodic peasant rebellions, the limiting economic system continued to reproduce despotism. Chen Ping's lessons for contemporary China are basically economic: utilize the international market, diversify beyond grain production to develop an ecologically balanced agriculture, encourage a type of industrialization that complements agricultural needs.Though the critique presented by the small-peasant economy theorists remains largely in the realm of economics, another group offers a more directly political challenge. These are the writers who characterize contemporary China as operating under a system of agricultural socialism (nongye shehuizhuyi). According to their analysis, the persistence of small-scale production has given rise to a pernicious bureaucratism that permeates all facets of socialist China. Cadres - chosen for their peasant class origins rather than for any expertise - are said to operate by principles opposed to economic progress. Administrative fiat, maintained by political force, overshadows efficiency as the criterion of operational feasibility. While arguing that the root of the problem lies in small-scale peasant production, the agricultural socialism critics insist that bureaucratism has become a major barrier to further development.Limited as these various formulations are, their attention to state and local peasant society resonates with a central theme of this essay. Much more research is needed to delineate the precise structure of state and local collectivities, interactions between them, and variations over time and from one geographical setting to another. But eventually such work promises to take us nearer to the reality of the Chinese case than we can hope to approach through the wholesale transfer of theories devised to explain quite different historical developments. The peasant studies school, whose central thesis hinges - ironically enough - on the demise of the peasantry, offers but partial explanations for a society whose peasants refuse to die.

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Is Collective Bargaining Pareto Efficient? A Survey of the Literature

It would be difficult, even today, to argue that labour unions are not important economic institutions, and it is this importance that makes their consequences for efficiency so substantial. Interest in the economic analysis of unions was revived in the early 1980s, in large part by a paper by Ian McDonald and Robert Solow, which formalized ideas first expressed in the context of labour markets 35 years earlier by Wassily Leontief. The standard textbook model of the labour union treats the union as a conventional monopoly seller of labour, selecting the wage while the firm chooses the level of employment; McDonald & Solow, however, drew from Leontief’s work to suggest an alternative in which the firm and union negotiate to a Pareto efficient contract. Further theoretical work followed, and a still-growing empirical literature began to develop; a wide variety of empirical procedures and tests have been attempted, with a diverse and contradictory range of findings. Given the importance of the question of union contract efficiency, an up-to-date survey of the literature may be useful in synthesizing past results and pointing the way to future research, and it is this role which the current paper will attempt to fill.     

Do clouds have politics? Collective actors in social media land

This commentary reviews some of the central theoretical concepts and contentions that represent the intellectual scaffold of this special issue. It looks closely at the notions of collective identity and collective action as they figure in the work of Alberto Melucci. It then critically assesses the argument that these notions should give way to a new model emphasizing how social media connect the actions undertaken by independent individuals. The rich corpus of research reported in the articles is surveyed with the goal to map the positions the different authors take along the collective versus connective dichotomy and to highlight the ways in which their contributions advance our understanding of identity, connectivity and political action in the social media environment.     

Is Sex Work Sex or Work? Forming Collective Identity in Bangalore

While sex worker activism grows increasingly vibrant around the world, the forms and practices of sex work vary widely, and are often secret. How do sex workers come to see themselves as sex worker activists? What tensions emerge in the formation of collective identity within sex worker activist organizations, especially when the term “sex work” has often traveled linked to transnational organizations and funding? To answer these questions, this article analyzes in-depth interviews and participant observation on sex worker activism in Bangalore, India. Focusing on an organization I call the Union, I argue that it was first within the “shop floor” of transnationally funded HIV prevention organizations, and then within the activist work of the Union, that sex workers came to identify collectively as activists at a large scale. However, distinct configurations of practice among gendered groups of sex workers in Bangalore meant each group related differently to the formation of a sex worker activist collective identity. Two aspects of sex workers’ practice emerged as particularly central: varying experiences of sex work as “sex” or as “work,” and varying levels of anonymity and visibility in public spaces. Organizing through transnationally funded HIV prevention programs helped solidify these categories of differentiation even as it provided opportunities to develop shared self-hood.     

Collective Bargaining and Community College Faculty: What Is the Wage Impact?

Studies that measure the impacts of collective bargaining on the salary of faculty in two-year colleges are limited. Most studies of faculty unions have used data that combine faculty in both two-year and four-year institutions. Recent work has demonstrated that past estimates of the impacts of unions on full-time faculty salaries in higher education suffer from multiple data, methodological, and statistical problems. This paper addresses these deficiencies, and the results support the claim that collective bargaining increases faculty salaries in two-year institutions, though by less than previously documented.     

Taking Control or Losing Control? Activist Narratives of Provocation and Collective Violence

This article examines the complex relationship between political agency, responsibility, and collective violence in connection with political protest. Contemporary Danish and Swedish left-wing activist narratives of police provocations at political protest events are analysed to clarify how provocation and its relation to the outbreak of violence are retrospectively constructed in radical milieus. Three ‘provocation plots’ are identified that, respectively, present (1) the interaction as purely a matter of attack and defence, (2) provocation as a cause of anger leading to retaliation, and (3) provocation as a trigger bringing about a redefinition of the situation that then offers an opportunity for violence. Subsequent negotiations among political activists regarding the position of moral high ground revolved around the issue of whether responding to the provocation in each of these cases meant taking or losing control of the situation. Internet discussion forums are highlighted as important arenas for debates among members of protest coalitions and in broader social movement milieus in which the interpretation of protest events and their implications for future protest tactics is negotiated. In the cases considered, storytelling after violent events was used to make sense of, and evaluate, often quite chaotic and ambiguous processes of violent confrontation, suggesting itself as a key to understanding the micro-dynamics of how social movement repertoires of action are maintained and developed.     

Senior Housing in Sweden—A Question of Class Differences and Collective Aging

Abstract

Private senior housing in Sweden has become an alternative to accommodation for elderly in the public welfare system. In the study presented here, the aim was to elucidate this senior housing from the perspective of the residents. The questions that were asked were: (1) Why have the residents chosen senior housing? (2) What are the differences between residents in rental apartments and tenant-owned housing cooperatives? (3) What advantages and disadvantages do the residents think that senior housing has? The interviews showed that: (1) The seniors have chosen the housing for reasons other than its being senior housing; (2) the residents in rental apartments come from the working class and socialize in collective forms, while the residents in cooperatives come from the middle class and socialize through individual initiatives; and (3) the advantages they experience in senior housing are that it involves activities and community. The disadvantages derive from the architectural planning. When the building has a communal yard or entrance, integrity can be threatened and the sense of collective aging can be a Strain.     

The Working Families’ Tax Credit and Some European Tax Reforms in A Collective Setting

A framework for simplified implementation of the collective model of labor supply decisions is presented in the context of fiscal reforms in the UK. Through its collective form the model accounts for the well known problem of distribution between wallet and purse, a broadly debated issue which has so far been impossible to model due to the limitations of the unitary model of household behavior. A calibrated data set is used to model the effects of introducing two forms of the Working Families’ Tax Credit. We also summarize results of estimations and calibrations obtained using the same methodology on data from five other European countries. The results underline the importance of taking account of the intrahousehold decision process and suggest that who receives government transfers does matter from the point of view of labor supply and welfare of household members. They also highlight the need for more research into models of household behavior.

Double‐edged swords? Collective identity and solidarity in the environment movement1

Perhaps by virtue of its theoretical slipperiness, collective identity is often hailed as an important feature of social movements for the role it plays in unifying activists and organizations, and so helping them to develop shared concerns and engage in collective action. However, this paper argues that collective identity is the result of group rather than movement level processes, and although it can unite activists within a single movement organization, it is not always beneficial for the broader social movement. Although movements consist of networks of activists and organizations that have a broad shared concern, differing collective identities within the movement can actually be quite divisive. Based on case studies of three organizations in the environmental movement, this paper shows that activists who are most committed to an organization with an encompassing collective identity develop a strong sense of solidarity with other activists similarly committed to that organization. The resultant solidarity leads to the construction of a 'we-them' dichotomy between organizations within the same movement, increasing the chances of hostility between organizations and factions within the movement.     

The Feeble Strength of One? Interdependence, Strategic Interaction, and the Decentralization of Collective Bargaining

This paper contributes to research examining class formation processes among capitalists by analyzing the fracturing of multiemployer collective bargaining associations in the U.S. coal mining and steel industries. The paper evaluates three theories of bargaining decentralization and offers an alternative account. Analyzing both the earlier stability of multiemployer bargaining and its subsequent decline, the paper attributes decentralization to changes in relationships of interdependence and power among unionized firms. While broad processes of economic restructuring gave rise to these shifts, social processes involving conflict and negotiation determined the specific direction of institutional change.

GLB + T?: Gender/Sexuality Movements and Transgender Collective Identity (De)Constructions

In the United States during the 1990s, there emerged a new form of collective political organizing and action around transgender identity. In this essay, the author depicts the dynamics of transgender activism during the mid-1990s based on original research in the form of a postmodern ethnography of transgender activism. Using data from field research, interviews, and observation, the author illustrates the way that transgender activism was characterized by simultaneous claims to a shared transgender quasi-ethnic identity and the complications thereof. In particular, the author details transgender social movement processes of identity—both processes of collective identity construction and deconstruction—demonstrating that transgender politics are not simply identity politics nor deconstructive (queer) politics. Using constructionist social movement literature, the author argues that in sexuality/gender studies we must expand our understanding of identity politics in order to understand the simultaneity of constructions and deconstructions of identity and gender/sexuality movements today.     

“Soft Power” and the Negotiation of Legitimacy: Collective Meaning Making in a Teacher Team

This article interrogates the “soft power” of teacher teamwork by probing the ways in which authority conditions the appropriation of institutional motives through collective meaning making. The study analyzes the interaction of a teacher-leader and a science teacher team across two settings of professional development organized to promote curricular reform in their U.S. secondary school. The premise of the analysis draws on frameworks from cultural-historical theories, sociological perspectives, and social semiotics to view authority as the outcome of relations of power and control. The analysis reveals how the negotiation of legitimacy in interaction functions to open up or close down possibilities for acquiring motives appropriate to subject matter, teaching, and student learning in teachers' professional practice. The article makes a novel contribution to post-Vygotskian theoretical development in its presentation of authority as an attribute of the dialectical relationship of person and society in the production of institutionalized objects.     

Agency as Interspecies,Collective and Embedded Endeavour: Ponies and People in Northern England 1916–1950

Animals are increasingly acknowledged as historical agents. There are calls for more critical approaches that explore how this agency—often shared with humans—is embedded within wider relations of power. This paper responds by employing Critical Theory, particularly the ideas of Jurgen Habermas, to explore how interspecies agency is shaped and constrained by its broader socioeconomic context. Empirical illustrations are drawn from the experiences of Dales ponies and people in the early twentieth century, who found themselves navigating the growing commodification of their shared lifeworld. The findings suggest the outcome of this process of “colonisation” was not inevitable. Rather, just as the demise of the ponies seemed unstoppable, their shared communicative relations re-emerged powerfully during the harsh winter of 1947. The paper asks what this means for our understanding of the apparently irrevocable decline of horsepower and how we might better understand horses’ own experiences of such events and processes.     

Looking at Smelser’s Theory of Collective Behavior After Almost 50 Years: A Review and Appreciation

A half century has gone by since the publication of Neil Smelser’s classic book on the Theory of Collective Behavior. The re-issue of the book triggered these observations in which I reflect on the fate of old books; trace a bit of the book’s genealogy; note changes in the field; and argue that Smelser’s book is really four books in one with varying impact over the decades and likely to be of varying interest to current scholars—an application of Parsonian theory to conflict and change; an elaboration of key concepts found with collective behavior which involves “uninstitutionalized mobilization to reconstitute components of social action on the basis of a generalized belief”; an elaboration of variables such as objective conditions of the social order, perceptions and belief systems required to understand the topic; and a comprehensive summary and critique of relevant empirical and theoretical work on collective behavior through the 1950s. Based on criticisms of the book, I suggest some areas that should be addressed were the book to be revised.     

Incorporation and Individualization of Collective Voices: Public Service User Involvement and the User Movement’s Mobilization for Change

‘Service user involvement’ is a widespread and well-known phenomenon within welfare policy and practice in Western countries and is usually perceived as a way of improving welfare services to better aid service users in managing their predicaments. However, the presented ethnographical study of service user involvement within a Swedish psychiatry organization shows that user involvement initiatives might also result in unintended and undesired effects on the collective user movement (i.e. the service user organizations involved in the activities). The analysis suggests that initiatives on user involvement might affect both the constitution of the user movement as well as the way the movement operates. Theoretically co-optation theory informs the analysis.     

‘I Hate It,But It Still Sounds Good’: Collective Identity and the Evaluation of Oppositional Frame Resonance

While activists often respond to claims advanced by their opposition, little is known about how oppositional rhetoric is evaluated. This study focuses on the evaluation process, examining how movement actors assess the resonant appeal of oppositional frames. I analyze how activists in the American pro-choice movement respond to a faction of the pro-life movement that primarily frames abortion as harmful to women. Drawing on focus group conversations with pro-choice activists, I find feminist collective identity and their own experience advancing gendered frames influence which oppositional frames pro-choice actors consider most likely to resonate with a non-activist audience. These judgments subsequently guide decisions about how to respond to oppositional frames and construct of counterframes. I find activists to use collective identity to rule out potential strategies and tactics they feel are in conflict with what the group represents. I argue that in cases where similarities exist between frames and counterframes, experience advancing rhetoric superficially similar to that of the opposing movement provides strategic insight. Movement actors draw on lessons learned from their own collective framing experiences to evaluate how audiences will respond to oppositional frames with comparable cultural themes. These experiences serve as a guide, informing activists' perceptions of the frames a non-activist audience will be most likely to embrace, which frames must be addressed, and which can be safely ignored. This study emphasizes movement actors' agency and strategic decision-making processes, demonstrates how collective identity influences the framing process, and contributes to knowledge of how group experiences and identity affect perception and strategy.