SOCI 539: The Sociology of War and Organized Violence (Rev. C1) Report a Broken Link

Sociology 539: The Sociology of War and Organized Violence introduces the study of war, both as an academic field of historical and contemporary research, and as a topic of popular interest and concern.

Unit 1: Studying War


Chojnacki, S. (2006). Anything new or more of the same? Wars and military interventions in the international system, 1946–2003. Global Society, 20(1), 25–46.

Unit 2: Theories of War


Somit, A. (1990). Humans, chimps, and bonobos: The biological bases of aggression, war, and peacemaking. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 34(3), 553–582.
Kong, J. (2008). Theoretical explanations of war: Evolutionary and psychoanalytic models. TMC Academic Journal, 3(2), 20–28.
Levy, J. S. (1998). The causes of war and the conditions of peace. Annual Review of Political Science, 1(1), 139–166.
Collins, R. (1974). Three faces of cruelty: Towards a comparative sociology of violence. Theory and Society, 1(4), 415–440.

Unit 3: Sociology of War


Kestnbaum, M. (2009). The sociology of war and the military. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 235–254.
Ryan, J. W. (2010, Spring). Samuel A. Stouffer and The American Soldier. Journal of Historical Biography, 7, 100–137.
Williams, R. M., Jr. (1989). The American Soldier: An assessment, several wars later. Public Opinion Quarterly, 53(2), 155–174.
Little, R. W. (1970). Buddy relations and combat performance. In O. Grusky & G. A. Miller (Eds.), The sociology of organizations: Basic studies (pp. 361–375). New York: The Free Press.
Ashworth, A. E. (1968). The sociology of trench warfare 1914–18. The British Journal of Sociology, 19(4), 407–423.
Moskos, C. C., Jr. (1975). The American combat soldier in Vietnam. Journal of Social Issues, 31(4), 25–37.
Wong, L., et al. (2003). Why they fight: Combat motivation in the Iraq war. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.

Unit 4: Pre-Modern War


Malinowski, B. (1941). An anthropological analysis of war. American Journal of Sociology, 46(4), 521–550.
Snyder, J. (2002). Anarchy and culture: Insights from the anthropology of war. International Organization, 56(1), 7–45.

Unit 5: Modern War


Newman, E. (2004). The “new wars” debate: A historical perspective is needed. Security Dialogue, 35(2), 173–89.
Singer, P. (2009). Robots at war: The new battlefield. Wilson Quarterly, 33(1), 30–48.
Featherstone, S. (2007). The coming robot army: Introducing America’s future fighting machines. Harper’s Magazine, 314(1881), 43–52.
Junger, S. & Hetherington, T. (2010) Restrepo, National Geographic Reproduced with permission.

Unit 6: Women and War


Green, J. L. (2004). Uncovering collective rape: A comparative study of political sexual violence. International Journal of Sociology, 34(1), 97–116.
Storr, W. (2012). An unspeakable act, Episode 1 [Audio file]. The Documentary. BBC World Service.
Diken, B., & Bagge Lausten, C. (2005). Becoming abject: Rape as a weapon of war. Body & Society, 11(1), 111–128.
Gottschall, J. (2004). Explaining wartime rape. Journal of Sex Research, 41(2), 129–136.

Unit 7: The Media and War


Herman, E. S. (1993). The media’s role in U.S. foreign policy. Journal of International Affairs, 47(1), 23–45.
Steuter, E., & Wills, D. (2010). Discourses of dehumanization: Enemy construction and Canadian media complicity in the framing of the war on terror. Global Media Journal, 2(2), 7–24.
Güney, Ü. (2010). “We see our people suffering”: The war, the mass media and the reproduction of Muslim identity among youth. Media, War & Conflict, 3(2), 168–181.

Unit 8: Civilians in War


Eckhardt, W. (1989). Civilian deaths in wartime. Security Dialogue, 20(1), 89–98.
Eck, K., & Hultman, L. (2007). One-sided violence against civilians in war: Insights from new fatality data. Journal of Peace Research, 44(2), 233–246.
Olsen, K. T. (2007, February). Violence against civilians in civil war: Understanding atrocities by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda [Working paper 8]. Ghent University, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Conflict Research Group.
Crawford, N. C. (2011). Assessing the human toll of the post-9/11 wars: The dead and wounded in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, 2001–2011. Costs of war [Website]. Brown University, Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs.

Unit 9: Humanitarian Military Interventions


de Waal, A., & Omaar, R. (1994). Can military intervention be “humanitarian”? Middle East Report, 187/188, 2–8.
Ignatieff, M. (2002). Intervention and state failure. Dissent, 49(1), 115–123.
Mamdani, M. (2010). Responsibility to protect or right to punish? Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 4(1), 53–67.
Evans, G., Farrow, M., Bolton, J., & Hillier, R. (2008, December 1). Humanitarian intervention [Debate]. Munk Debates.

Read about this debate, and then watch the four Video Highlights here: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4

Unit 10: Rehumanizing the Enemy


Junger, S. (2012, January 13). We're all guilty of dehumanizing the enemy. The Washington Post.
Peace Talks Radio. (n.d.). Vets' healing journeys to Vietnam. Peace talks radio.
Gerlock, A. A. (1991). Vietnam: Returning to the scene of the trauma. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health, 29(2), 4–8.
Halpern, J., & Weinstein, H. (2004). Rehumanizing the other: Empathy and reconciliation. Human Rights Quarterly, 26(3), 561–583.
Landau, Y. (1996). Rehumanizing the “enemy” and confronting ourselves. Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, 3(1).
Verdeja, E. (2009). Theorizing reconciliation. In Unchopping a tree: Reconciliation in the aftermath of political violence (pp. 1–27). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.