Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GROUPVIOLENCE (Groups and Violence: A Micro-sociological Research Programme)

Teaser

What is the role of group members and third parties in the escalation and de-escalation of conflicts? Why do some incidents in public spaces end up in ferocious violence while others defuse? What is the role of group behavior in these different outcomes? The Group Violence...

Summary

What is the role of group members and third parties in the escalation and de-escalation of conflicts? Why do some incidents in public spaces end up in ferocious violence while others defuse? What is the role of group behavior in these different outcomes? The Group Violence research programme takes up these questions. While the prevailing social scientific focus remains on individual perpetrators and background factors, the empirical reality of public violence is one of multiple attackers, multiple victims and multiple bystanders. Therefore, we study violence from the perspective of groups.
One of our projects uses video footage of naturally occurring altercations in public spaces captured by phone recordings. The first question we aimed to answer in this project was how group behavior affects intervention by third parties. We found that bodily alignment between third parties creates situational groups: co-present people aware that they are sharing a focus of attention to the incident. Qualitative analysis revealed that third parties generate situational groups when they move from line to circular formations, providing greater opportunities to notice each other’s monitoring of the situation while separating those focused on the incident from others just passing by. Statistical analysis showed that the formation of situational groups contributes to the collectivization of third party de-escalatory action and increases the likelihood of interventions being successful. The second question we aim to answer in this project is how group behavior – the antagonistic parties and third parties - is related to turning points in violent incidents; this is the question why some altercations in public spaces turn into severe, one sided violence against vulnerable victims (e.g. kicking victims on the ground) while others are more restrained (limited to just some punches or slaps) and defuse more easily. The video footage will help us to unravel the role that group dynamics play in these different trajectories of violence.
Other projects are work in progress. In these projects, PhD students study how police teams, delinquent youth, football hooligans, security staff and vigilante groups collectively shape antagonistic situations. Each of these projects aims to answer the following questions: How do group members try to de-escalate antagonistic situations? When are they more likely to escalate? How do they deal with third parties? How do group members experience violence? How did they learn when to use violence, and when not? These research projects are based on close-up, intensive methods of data collection such as go-alongs and observations, interviews, video-elicitation and body mapping. In sum, the projects will generate over 200 interviews and over 200 observations of group behavior in antagonistic situations. Based on these data, the projects aim to reveal the conditions under which these various groups engage in escalation and de-escalation of public violence.
Eventually, a final project will bring these various projects together data to provide an extensive comparison of group behaviour in antagonistic situations. The ambition is to produce exemplary understanding of the crucial role that groups play in violence.

Work performed

We have created a database of 150 video clips of violent incidents in public space and produced both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the behavior of antagonists and third parties in these situations. The PhD students have gained access to the groups under study and have conducted 138 interview and made 108 field observations at this point.
We have presented our work in progress at various occasions and have submitted three articles to international, peer-reviewed journals.

Final results

This research advances the state of the art in violence research in the following ways. First, prior studies of violent interactions were based on judicial case files or interviews with perpetrators while this research introduces a new type of data for violence research: video footage, which captures in more detail what is actually happening in such interactions. Second, this study produces a new methodological approach to study interaction sequences of violent incidents: so far studies of violent interactions either used quantitative (standardized, reductionistic) or qualitative (open, holistic) techniques of data analysis, while this research advances the field by combining both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Third, while the prevailing social scientific focus remains on individual perpetrators and their background factors, the empirical reality of public violence is one of multiple attackers, multiple victims and multiple bystanders; theoretically, our work advances the field by emphasizing group processes in violent interactions. Fourth, while most empirical work on violence focuses on specific areas or groups, this study provides a comparative analysis of various groups (police teams, football hooligans, delinquent youth, security staff and vigilante groups) that engage in violence. Fifth, so far, studies of violence did not consider the bodily know-how that is involved in acts of violence and de-escalation; we will explore how various groups (see above) have acquired the bodily-know how of doing violence and de-escalation, and develop a theory of the body in violent action. Finally, while studies of violence tend to portray violence as an emotional outpouring, this research advances the field by considering the variety of emotional experiences and, notably, the forms of emotional control involved in violence.
This project is expected to produce the following results:
= three articles based on video analyses of violent interactions; one already submitted
= a book on the sequential analysis of violent interactions based on video footage
= five articles on each of the groups we study (police teams, football hooligans, delinquent youth, security staff and vigilante groups) showing the role of group behaviour on the escalation and de-escalation of violent interactions, also in relation to the bodily know-how and emotional regulation involved in violence
= five monographs (PhD-dissertations) on each of the groups we study
= a book on the social forms of violence that brings together the findings of the five studies into groups that engage in violence

Website & more info

More info: http://www.group-violence.com.