The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence by Ervin Staub, ISBN-13: 978-0521354073

Description

The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence by Ervin Staub, ISBN-13: 978-0521354073

[PDF eBook eTextbook]

• Publisher: ‎ Cambridge University Press; First Edition (October 27, 1989)
• Language: ‎ English
• ‎352 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 0521354072
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0521354073

How can human beings kill or brutalize multitudes of other human beings? Focusing particularly on genocide, but also on other forms of mass killing, torture, and war, Ervin Staub explores the psychological, cultural, and societal roots of group aggression. He sketches a conceptual framework for the many influences on one group’s desire to harm another: cultural and social patterns predisposing to violence, historical circumstances resulting in persistent life problems, and needs and modes of adaptation arising from the interaction of these influences. Such notions as cultural stereotyping and devaluation, societal self-concept, moral exclusion, the need for connection, authority orientation, personal and group goals, “better world” ideologies, justification, and moral equilibrium find a place in his analysis, and he addresses the relevant evidence from the behavioral sciences. Within this conceptual framework, Staub then considers the behavior of perpetrators and bystanders in four historical situations: the Holocaust (his primary example), the genocide of Armenians in Turkey, the “autogenocide” in Cambodia, and the “disappearances” in Argentina. Throughout, he is concerned with the roots of caring and the psychology of heroic helpers. In his concluding chapters, he reflects on the socialization of children at home and in schools, and on the societal practices and processes that facilitate the development of caring persons, and of care and cooperation among groups. A wide audience will find The Roots of Evil thought-provoking reading.

Table of Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part I Psychological and cultural bases of genocide and other forms of group violence

1 An introduction

The approach and content of the book

A brief preview

• Differences and similarities and the selection of cases

The definitions of genocide and mass killing

Four mass killings/genocides

The Holocaust

• The genocide of the Armenians

• The autogenocide (Khmer killing Khmer) in Cambodia

• Is mass killing ever justified?

2 The origins of genocide and mass killing: core concepts

A conception of the origins of genocide and mass killing

Difficult life conditions

• Psychological consequences: needs and goals

• Ways of coping and fulfilling needs and goals

• The continuum of destruction

• Cultural-societal characteristics

• The role of bystanders

• The role of motivation

Leadership and followership

The individual and the system

The roots of evil

Groups as evil or good

Comparison of personal (and social) goal theory and other approaches

Compartmentalization of functions and euphemistic language

• Obedience to authority and the authoritarianism of culture

• Psychosocial consequences of World War I on German youth

• Anti-Semitism in Germany

• The role of the family

• Hitler’s personality and psychopathology

• The role of victims

• Complex analyses of the origins of the Holocaust

• Some further comparisons

Summary: a conception of motivation and evolution

3 The psychology of hard times: the effects of difficult life conditions

Motivations arising from threat, frustration, or difficult life conditions

Motivational sources of human behavior

• Motivations for aggression: psychological states and processes that promote aggression

• Difficult life conditions and aggression

The effect of stress and danger on psychological experience

The long-term effects of combat experience

Strategies for coping and goal satisfaction

4 Cultural and individual characteristics

The influence of culture

Aggressiveness as a persistent behavioral mode

• Cultural self-concept, self-esteem, and world view

• Cultural goals and values

• Moral value orientations

• Ingroup-outgroup differentiation and devaluation of outgroups

• Pluralistic and monolithic cultures

• Orientation to authority

• Unconscious motivation – individual and cultural

The influence of sociopolitical organization

Governmental system

• Social institutions

5 The psychology of perpetrators: individuals and groups

Roles and other social processes as origins of harm-doing

Self-selection and the personality of perpetrators

The potentially antisocial person

• Family origins of the potentially antisocial personality

• Authority orientation and its sources in the family

The origins of destructiveness in personality and in the situation

The fanatic as perpetrator

Behavior in groups

The subcultures of perpetrators

• Psychological functioning and individual responsibility

6 Steps along a continuum of destruction: perpetrators and bystanders

Just-world thinking

Learning by doing and the evolution of extreme destructiveness

Compartmentalization and integration

Other origins of mistreatment

The role and power of bystanders

Part II The Nazi Holocaust

7 Hitler comes to power

Genocide and “insanity”

Life conditions: loss of war, the Treaty of Versailles, and economic and political chaos

The guiding motive for the Holocaust: ideology

Reasons for Hitler’s appeal: a summary

8 Preconditions for the Holocaust in German culture

The devaluation of Jews

Self-concept, self-esteem, and national goals

The Germans as a superior people

Respect for and obedience to authority

The influence of Nietzsche

Rationality versus sentimental romanticism

The psychological effects on German youth of World War I and the postwar period

Youth groups and military groups after World War I

9 Nazi rule and steps along the continuum of destruction

Increasing mistreatment of Jews

The evolution of ideas, actions, and the system: euthanasia and genocide

The power of giving onself over to a group, an ideal, or a leader

The role of the totalitarian system

10 The SS and the psychology of perpetrators

The creation, evolution, and role of the SS

Characteristics of SS members

Learning by participation

The interweaving and merging of role and person

The extermination camps: Auschwitz

The psychology of perpetrators: individuals and the system

The characteristics and functioning of perpetrators

• Behavioral shifts

Moral equilibration, choice, and responsibility

Individual responsibility

The completion tendency: killing till the very end

11 The behavior and psychology of bystanders and victims

The role of bystanders

The passivity of German bystanders

• Bystanders and perpetrators in Nazi Europe

• The passivity of the outside world

Jewish cooperation, resistance, and psychological experience

The Jewish councils

• Jewish actions

• The psychology of victims

The power of heroic bystanders

Heroic rescuers

Part III Other genocides and mass killings

12 The Turkish genocide of the Armenians

Historical (life) conditions

Cultural preconditions

The devaluation of minorities and Christians

• Orientation to authority

Steps along the continuum of destruction

Devaluation and increasing mistreatment

Armenian “provocation”

The evolution of Young Turk ideology

The machinery of destruction

The genocide

The role of bystanders

13 Cambodia: genocide to create a better world

Historical (life) conditions

Cambodian peasants: economic conditions, uprising, reprisals

• Political instability and violence

The Khmer Rouge rule and “autogenocide”

Ideological bias and reports and views of atrocities

Ideology, world view, and the aims of the Khmer Rouge

Cultural preconditions: the roots of ideology and genocide

Class divisions, urban-rural rift, and slavery

• Orientation to authority

• The ideology of antagonism toward Vietnam

• Cultural self-concept

• A tradition of violence in Cambodia

Experiential and intellectual sources of ideology and fanaticism

Gaining followers: the tools of revolution and genocide

The role of specific individuals

Steps along the continuum of destruction

The role of bystanders

14 This disappearances: mass killing in Argentina

Historical (life) conditions

Economic difficulties

• Political conflict and violence

Cultural preconditions

The role of the military in public life

• The self-concept and ideology of the military

Steps along the continuum of destruction

Changing institutions

• The machinery of destruction

The mass killings

The selection of victims: ideology, self-interest, caprice

The psychology of direct perpetrators

The role of bystanders

Internal bystanders

• Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo

• External bystanders

15 Summary and conclusions: the societal and psychological origins of genocide and other atrocities

A comparison of the four instances

Difficult life conditions

• Cultural preconditions

Leaders and followers

The psychology and motives of perpetrators

The psychological processes of groups

Steps along the continuum of destruction

The obligation of bystanders

More and less central origins of genocide

Predicting genocide and mass killing

The psychology of torture and torturers

Part IV Further extensions: the roots of war and the creation of caring and nonaggressive persons and societies

16 The cultural and psychological origins of war

Motivations for war

Cultural preconditions for war

The ideology of antagonism

• Societal self-concept and national goals

• Nationalism, belonging, and the self-concept

• National security and related ideologies

• World views that contribute to war

• Pluralistic versus monolithic societies

• Leadership

The national interest

Minimalism in the relations of nations

Toward positive reciprocity

17 The nature of groups: security, power, justice, and positive connection

Assumptions about human nature and the nature of societies

An alternative view of individual and group potentials

Relations between the individual and the group

Important societal issues

Social justice and life problems

• Creating a society of enablement

• Individualism and community

• The accountability of leaders

• Freedom, pluralism, and self-censorship

18 The creation and evolution of caring, connection, and nonaggression

Changing cultures and the relations between societies

Crosscutting relations and superordinate goals

• Learning by doing and steps along a continuum of benevolence

• Creating positive connections between groups

Positive socialization: parenting, the family, and schools

Avenues for change

Language and ideas

• Writers, artists, the media, leaders, all citizens

Notes

Index

What makes us different?

• Instant Download

• Always Competitive Pricing

• 100% Privacy

• FREE Sample Available

• 24-7 LIVE Customer Support