NCJ Number
248122
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2014 Pages: 340-345
Date Published
August 2014
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This literature review examined studies that investigated how structural conditions and cultural factors combined to influence violence levels across communities.
Abstract
This review of studies examining how structural conditions and cultural factors combine to influence violence levels across communities found that over time, community-level structural deterioration compromises the ability of age-linked institutions of social control to supply people with pro-social strategies of action. The findings suggest that individuals use various strategies of action to navigate their way through a maze of social contexts, and that violence is just one of these strategies of action. The primary purpose of this review was to examine research to determine how social structural arrangements influence the evolution of pro-violence norms and behavioral scripts related to violence that is more instrumental or predatory in nature, as opposed to violence that is expressive, honor based, or used to resolve interpersonal disputes. References