Violence and Its Alternatives : An Interdisciplinary Reader

by Steger, Manfred B.; Lind, Nancy S.

• ISBN13: 9780312215132
• ISBN10: 0312215134
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The proliferation of violence is arguably one of the most crucial topics of concern in an era of ethnic wars on one hand, and cultural debates about what constitutes violence in arenas of pornography, nationalism, race relations, the media, even environmental issues on the other. Violence and Its Alternatives fills the existing gap in the literature on violence with essays from the most influential writers in the fields of politics, psychology, sociology, gender studies, and race studies. This collection has two features not found in any other discussions of violence: first, a full spectrum of views, from now-classic treatments to postmodern considerations; and second, the first interdisciplinary study of nonviolence.

Author Biography

Manfred B. Steger is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Nancy S. Lind is Associate Professor of Political Science, both at Illinois State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	Xi
Introduction	xiii
Manfred B. Steger
Nancy S. Lind
SECTION I: VIOLENCE: DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS
Excerpt from On Violente	3	(9)
Hannah Arendt
``On Violence''	12	(11)
Robert Paul Wolff
``The Idea of Violence''	23	(16)
C. A. J. Coady
``Cultural Violence''	39	(18)
Johan Galtung
SECTION II: VIOLENCE AND LAW
``Critique of Violence''	57	(13)
Walter Benjamin
Excerpt from Discipline and Punish	70	(7)
Michel Foucault
Excerpt from Force of Law: The Mystical Foundation of Authority	77	(7)
Jacques Derrida
``The Force of Law: Metaphysical or Political?''	84	(5)
Nancy Fraser
``Is Violent Speech a Right?''	89	(6)
Cass R. Sunstein
SECTION III: VIOLENCE AND GENDER
``Gender and Sexuality: Masculinity, Violence, and Domination''	95	(18)
Nancy C. M. Hartsock
``Violence, Gender, and Social Change''	113	(8)
Christine Alder
``Violence in Lesbian and Gay Relationships''	121	(8)
Claire M. Renzetti
``Pornography and Grief''	129	(4)
Andrea Dworkin
``Andrea Dworkin's Reconstruction of Pornography as a Discriminatory Social Practice''	133	(12)
Cindy Jenefsky
``The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars''	145	(12)
Ruth Seifert
SECTION IV: VIOLENCE AND RACE
Excerpt from ``Concerning Violence'' The Wretched of the Earth	157	(12)
Frantz Fanon
Excerpt from The Ballot or the Bullet	169	(3)
Malcolm X
``On Violence''	172	(5)
David Nicholson
``Nihilism in Black America''	177	(6)
Cornel West
``Violence, Resistance, and the Struggle for Black Empowerment''	183	(8)
Manning Marable
``Indigenous Peoples, Racism and the Environment''	191	(10)
Russel Barsh
SECTION V: VIOLENCE AND NATIONALISM
``The New Nationalism in Europe''	201	(9)
Mary Kaldor
``Pro Patria Mori! Death and the State''	210	(11)
Yael Tamir
``Patriotism and Its Futures''	221	(14)
Arjun Appadurai
``Ethnic Cleansing': A Metaphor for Our Time?''	235	(18)
Akbar S. Ahmed
SECTION VI: VIOLENCE AND CLASS
Excerpt from Reflections on Violence	253	(12)
Georges Sorel
``Liberation from the Affluent Society''	265	(9)
Herbert Marcuse
``Legality and Illegality''	274	(10)
Georg Lukacs
``An Autopsy of Marxist Socialism''	284	(9)
Manfred B. Steger
SECTION VII: NONVIOLENCE ALTERNATIVES
Excerpts from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi	293	(9)
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Excerpts from Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience	302	(6)
Martin Luther King Jr.
``Beloved Community: A World Without Racism''	308	(5)
bell hooks
``Freedom from Fear''	313	(4)
Aung San Suu Kyi
``Beyond Just War and Pacifism''	317	(17)
Gene Sharp
``Untangling the Web of Violence''	334	(17)
Jennifer Turpin
Lester R. Kurtz
Notes	351	(30)
Selected Bibliography	381	(16)
Index	397