Home  /  Back to disciplines  /  Request exam/desk copy  /  Purchase  /  View cart  /  Checkout

The Normative Rules and Routines of Interpersonal Violence

Terance D. Miethe and Gini R. Deibert

Violence has been and continues to be a central feature of U.S. society. Most people experience some type of aggressive behavior—whether taunts by the playground bully, fights with siblings, “road rage” incidents, or violent contact in numerous sports. Violence is also a major theme in television programming, film, and contemporary music. Although the contexts for violence vary substantially, interpersonal aggression is incredibly patterned in social characteristics, such as time, place, offender/victim profiles, and in the rules of engagement that underlie its initiation, escalation, and desistance in anger-provoking situations. This succinct, fascinating text investigates the nature and causes of interpersonal violence and the normative rules and routine action patterns associated with aggression.
 

$16.95 list, 157 pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-456-6

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-456-7

© 2007

“Just browsing through the book, it looks as though it will be an excellent resource for baseline information regarding interpersonal violence. I like its succinctness. It is the type of material I can easily build on since it provides such a firm foundation.”  — Lila Rucker, University of South Dakota

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

General Patterns of Aggression and Violence / Our Approach

2. Theories of Interpersonal Violence and Its Context

Theories of Violent Propensities / Theories of Criminal and Violent Acts / Summary

3. Attack and Defense Routines in Animals

Territoriality and the Defense of Space / Variability in Preemptive Actions / Retreat and Submission / Fighting Strategies / Rules and Rituals in Types of Animal Aggression / Summary

4. Rules and Rituals of Aggression in Human History

Aggression-Triggering Acts and Cues / Rules of Human Violence in a Historical Context / Summary

5. The Rules of Street Violence

The Prevalence of Physical Assaults in Public Places / Rules and Routines in Different Types of Street Violence / Summary

6. Domestic Violence

Prevalence of Domestic Violence / Intimate Partner Violence and Its Rules of Conduct / Normative Rules for Other Types of Domestic Violence / Summary

7. Rules and Boundaries of Violence in Sporting Events

The Value of Aggression in Sports for Players and Fans / Rules of Appropriate Violence in Particular Sports / Summary

8. Constraints, Facilitators, and the Ecology of Aggression

Basic Structural Impediments to Aggression / Why Are Physical Injuries Rare in Aggressive Acts? / Facilitating Factors in Serious and Lethal Aggression / Summary

9. The Control of Physical Aggression

Current Intervention and Prevention Practices / The Legacy and Changes of Normative Violence / Conclusions and a Short-Term Remedy