Conventional wisdom has regarded low self-esteem as an important cause of violence, but the opposite view is theoretically viable. An interdisciplinary review of evidence about aggression, crime, and violence contradicted the view that low self-esteem is an important cause. Instead, violence appears to be most commonly a result of threatened egotismwthat is, highly favorable views of self that are disputed by some person or circumstance. Inflated, unstable, or tentative beliefs in the self's superiority may be most prone to encountering threats and hence to causing violence. The mediating process may involve directing anger outward as a way of avoiding a downward revision of the selfconcept. Only a minority of human violence can be understood as rational, instrumental behavior aimed at securing or protecting material rewards. The pragmatic futility of most violence has been widely recognized: Wars harm both sides, most crimes yield little financial gain, terrorism and assassination almost never bring about the desired political changes, most rapes fail to bring sexual pleasure, torture rarely elicits accurate or useful information, and most murderers soon regret their actions as pointless and selfdefeating (Ford, 1985; Gottfiedson & Hirschi, 1990; Groth, 1979; Keegan, 1993; Sampson & Laub, 1993; .Scm'ry, 1985). What drives people to commit violent and oppressive actions that so often are tangential or even contrary to the rational pursuit of material self-interest? This article reviews literature relevant to the hypothesis that one main source of such violence is threatened egotism, particularly when it consists of favorable self-appraisals that may be inflated or ill-founded and that are confronted with an external evaluation that disputes them. The focus on egotism (i.e., favorable self-appraisals) as one cause of violent aggression runs contrary to an entrenched body of wisdom that has long pointed to low self-esteem as the root of violence and other antisocial behavior. We shall examine the arguments for the low self-esteem view and treat it as a rival hypothesis to our emphasis on high self-esteem. Clearly, there

https://www.emotionalcompetency.com/papers/baumeistersmartboden1996[1].pdf

Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem.

The Logic of Violence in Civil War: List of Tables and Figures

Background Little is known about the total population prevalence and societal costs of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); this report reviews relevant literature on these topics Method A literature search of computerized databases for published reports on trauma and PTSD was conducted This literature was reviewed to find data on general population exposure to trauma, conditional risk of PTSD among those exposed to trauma both in focused samples of trauma victims and in general population samples, and the adverse consequences of PTSD Results PTSD was found to be a commonly occurring disorder that often has a duration of many years and is frequently associated with exposure to multiple traumas The impairment associated with PTSD in US samples, where the majority of research on these consequences has been carried out, is comparable to, or greater than, that of other seriously impairing mental disorders Risk of suicide attempts is particularly high among people with PTSD Available evidence suggests that the prevalence of PTSD and the adverse emotional and psychological consequences of PTSD are much greater in the many countries around the world that are in the midst of armed conflicts involving political, racial, or ethnic violence Conclusion PTSD is a highly prevalent and impairing condition Only a minority of people with PTSD obtain treatment Early and aggressive outreach to treat people with PTSD could help reduce the enormous societal costs of this disorder

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Posttraumatic stress disorder: the burden to the individual and to society.

What is the meaning of Africa and of being African? What is and what is not African philosophy? Is philosophy part of Africanism ? These are the kind of fundamental questions which this book addresses. North America: Indiana U Press

The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge

Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Prologue: The Bus 1. Introduction 2. The California Political Economy 3. The Prison Fix 4. Crime, Croplands, and Capitalism 5. Mothers Reclaiming Our Children 6. What Is to Be Done? Epilogue: Another Bus Notes

Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California

Fieldwork Under Fire is a path-breaking collection of essays written by anthropologists who have experienced the unpredictability and trauma of political violence firsthand. These essays combine theoretical, ethnographic, and methodological points of view to illuminate the processes and solutions that characterize life in dangerous places. They describe the first, often harrowing, experience of violence, the personal and professional problems that arise as troubles escalate, and the often surprising creative strategies people use to survive. In "writing violence," the authors give voice to all those affected by the conditions of violence: perpetrators as well as victims, civilians and specialists, black marketeers and heroes, jackals and researchers. Focusing on everyday experiences, these essays bring to light the puzzling contradictions of lives disturbed by violence: the simultaneous existence of laughter and suffering, of fear and hope. By doing so, they challenge the narrow conceptualization that associates violence with death and war, arguing that instead it must be considered a dimension of living.

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Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival.

A Different Kind of War Story takes us to the frontlines of one of the most brutal wars in recent history. The setting is Mozambique during the fifteen-year war of terror that took a million lives--mostly civilian--and completely destroyed homes, crops, hospitals, schools, and even access to water. The characters are the soldiers who fought it, the thieves and opportunists who profited from it, and the ordinary people whose lives were shattered by it and from whose ranks emerged the heroes and healers who created peace. Combining contemporary theory and innovative methodology, Nordstrom explores the nature and culture of terror warfare and raises thought-provoking questions about state power, civilian resistance, and the politics of identity. She compares the conflict in Mozambique with similar conflicts and offers a new way of looking at political violence, showing that just as violence is learned, it can be unlearned.

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A Different Kind of War Story

Acknowledgments PART ONE: INTRODUCTIONS 1. Prologue 2. A Conversation in a Bar at the Front 3. Making Things Invisible PART TWO: WAR 4. Finding the Front Lines 5. Violence 6. Power PART THREE: SHADOWS 7. Entering the Shadows 8. A First Exploratory Definition of the Shadows 9. The Cultures of the Shadows: The Meat, Potatoes, Diamonds, and Guns of Daily Life PART FOUR: PEACE? 10. The Institutionalization of the Shadows: (Habits of War Mar Landscapes of Peace) 11. The Autobiography of a Man Called Peace 12. The Time of Not War Not Peace 13. Peace 14. The Problems with Peace PART FIVE: DANGEROUS PROFITS 15. Ironies in the Shadows: (Literally) Untold Profits and a Key Source of Development 16. Why Don't We Study the Shadows? 17. Epilogue: Two Sides of the Same Coin Postscript: The War of the Month Club--Iraq Notes Bibliography Index

Shadows of War: Violence, Power, and International Profiteering in the Twenty-First Century

This is an ethnographic and theoretical exploration of the `shadows': vast transnational networks of goods, services, people and exchanges that flow outside formal and legal state channels and international laws. These networks involve millions of people and more than a trillion dollars yearly worldwide, and my research demonstrates these are more formalized, integrated and rule-bound than traditional studies have suggested. Thus, `shadow' networks broker political, economic and social power that can rival many of the world's states, and they are profoundly implicated in world markets. This article explores core characteristics and cultures defining extant extra-state systems, and the power and potentialities for social sovereignty they wield. Investigation into shadow realities prompts a reassessment of the basic theoretical ideas concerning the nexus of legality/illegality, state/non-state and formal/non-formal power relations defining the world today.

Shadows and sovereigns

Acknowledgments Preface NATIONAL 1. The War Orphan 2. The Bombed-Out Shop 3. Coconuts and Cigarettes: Some Definitions 4. The Gov'nor's Red Tractors 5. Military Takeovers (Or, How to Own a Country) 6. The Untold Story of the Amputees 7. Robber Barons INTERNATIONAL 8. The Border Post--a Billion-Dollar Truck Stop (Going International) 9. Romancing the Stone: Borders and Businesspeople 10. The Washing Machine: Laundering, Part One GLOBAL 11. Diamonds and Fish: Going Global 12. Ports 13. Drugs 14. The Culture of Criminals 15. The Culture of Cops 16. The World-Port 17. The Investment Machine: Laundering, Part Two 18. Human Cargo HOME 19. Post-Terror: Creating (the Illusion of) Security 20. Conclusion Notes References Index

Carolyn Nordstrom

Papers

Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival.

A Different Kind of War Story

Shadows of War: Violence, Power, and International Profiteering in the Twenty-First Century

Shadows and sovereigns

Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World