A theory of the dynamics of violence
Abstract
Violence: a micro-sociological theory Violence: a micro-sociological theory , by Randall Collins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008, 466 pp., notes to 526, bibliography to 553, index to 563. US$45 (clothbound), ISBN 9780691133133 In October 1989, inmates seized Camp Hill prison near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the immediate aftermath, a group of inmates who had not been involved in the riot were bused 100 miles east to Graterford prison near Philadelphia. The officers there met the arriving inmates with their own mini-riot. They beat the handcuffed inmates with batons, kicked and punched them, spit on them, and shocked them with stun guns. A federal grand jury indicted 13 correctional officers. One of those indicted, in admitting his guilt, stated to the court that it was something I shall be ashamed of for the rest of my life. So far as I know, not one prisoner did anything at all to deserve such torture …. Not only were human beings having their basic civil and human rights trampled, but also, the perpetrators of the criminal conduct were good men who were acting totally out of character. And I was one of them, in on it up to my eyeballs. These