Why Violence?: Leading Questions Regarding the Conceptualization and Reality of Violence in Society

This book and its companion reader (Violence: Do We Know It When We See It?) explore the many manifest ways in which violence is understood in contemporary society, treating questions that have not conventionally been associated with violence such as why are acts of social injustice, environmental degradation, and gross abuse of power not considered acts of violence per se. In addressing the leading questions about violence, the book introduces readers to the complexities related with its definition and measurement, its varying expressions in society, its trends of occurrence, its origins and patterns over time and across cultures, and its solutions and control.

Along the way the book presents the state-of-the-art thinking and associated research base as well as a critical analysis of the interplay between popular views and the "disconnect" between the public's understanding of violence including official responses to violence and scientific evidence.

The Teacher's Manual (in 3 parts―manual, multi-choice questions and true-false questions) is available electronically on a CD or via email. Please contact Beth Hall at bhall (at) cap-press (dot) com to request a copy, and please specify whether you need materials in pdf or Word format. PowerPoint slides are available to professors upon adoption of this book. Download sample slides from the full 760-slide presentation here. If you have adopted the book for a course, contact bhall (at) cap-press (dot) com to request the PowerPoint slides.

Dr. William Thornton is Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Director of the Master of Criminal Justice program, and Professor of Sociology at Loyola University New Orleans.

Dr. Lydia Voigt holds the Reverend Joseph H. Fichter, S.J., Distinguished Professorship in the Social Sciences and is a Distinguished University Professor and a Professor of Sociology as well as the current chairperson in the Department of Sociology at Loyola University New Orleans.

Dee Wood Harper is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Criminology, and Justice at Loyola University New Orleans.