Violence Reflections on a National Epidemic

by Gilligan, James

• ISBN13: 9780679779124
• ISBN10: 0679779124
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-04-29
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

Drawing on firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, his own family history, and literature, Gilligan unveils the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who will not only kill others but destroy themselves rather than suffer a loss of self-respect. With devastating clarity, Gilligan traces the role that shame plays in the etiology of murder and explains why our present penal system only exacerbates it. Brilliantly argued, harrowing in its portraits of the walking dead,Violenceshould be read by anyone concerned with this national epidemic and its widespread consequences. "Extraordinary. Gilligan's recommendations concerning what does work to prevent violence...are extremely convincing...A wise and careful, enormously instructive book."--Owen Renik, M.D., editor, Psychoanalytic Quarterly

Author Biography

James Gilligan, M.D., directed the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School. He is the former medical director of the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Massachusetts prison system.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Violence as Tragedy	1	(28)
PART I THE PATHOLOGY OF VIOLENCE	29	(60)
CHAPTER 1 Visits to Hell: Entering the World of the Prison	29	(16)
CHAPTER 2 Dead Souls	45	(12)
CHAPTER 3 Violent Action as Symbolic Language: Myth, Ritual, and Tragedy	57	(32)
PART II THE "GERM THEORY" OF VIOLENCE	89	(50)
CHAPTER 4 How to Think About Violence	89	(14)
CHAPTER 5 Shame: The Emotions and Morality of Violence	103	(36)
PART III THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF VIOLENCE	139	(102)
CHAPTER 6 The Symbolism of Punishment	139	(24)
CHAPTER 7 How to Increase the Rate of Violence--and Why	163	(28)
CHAPTER 8 The Deadliest Form of Violence Is Poverty	191	(18)
CHAPTER 9 The Biology of Violence	209	(16)
CHAPTER 10 Culture, Gender, and Violence: "We Are Not Women"	225	(16)
Epilogue Civilization and Its Malcontents	241	(28)
Notes	269	(26)
Acknowledgments	295	(4)
Index	299