School Shootings

School shootings are a topic of research in a variety of different disciplines―from psychology, to sociology to criminology, pedagogy, and public health―each with their own set of theories. Many of these theories are logically interconnected, while some differ widely and seem incompatible with each other, leading to divergent results about potential means of prevention. In this innovative work, leading researchers on the topic of school shootings introduce their findings and theoretical concepts in one combined systematic volume. The contributions to this work highlight both the complementary findings from different fields, as well as cases where they diverge or contradict each other. The work is divided into four main sections: an overview of current theoretical approaches and empirical models; application of these theories to international cases, including Columbine (USA), Emsdetten (Germany), and Tuusula (Finland); a critique of the influence of the media, both in the portrayals of past events and its effect on future events; and finally an overview of existing models for prevention and intervention, and measures of their success. The result is a comprehensive source for current research on school shootings, and will provide a direction for future research.

Nils Böckler is a member of the graduate college Group-focused Enmity which is founded by the German National Science Foundation and associated with the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. In his PhD-project (science of education) he deals with patterns of online-hate and online-radicalization with a main focus on juveniles.

Thorsten Seeger is a member of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. From a background of educational science his main scholarly interests lie in the fields of traumatic childhood experiences, attachment theory, socialization, and violence research. He deepened his knowledge in psychoanalytic ideas and methods during a study stay at the University of Vienna.

Dr. Peter Sitzer has studied science of education at Bielefeld University. Since 2002 he is member of the Faculty of Educational Science at the Bielefeld University. His main research interests are theories of socialization, youth violence, right-wing extremism, media and violence, and cyber bullying.

Wilhelm Heitmeyer is professor of socialization and director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. His research interests concentrate on violence, social disintegration, right-wing extremism, and ethnic-cultural conflicts. He is editor of the International Handbook of Violence Research (co-edited with John Hagan), and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Conflict and Violence (with D. Massey et al.).