The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group ViolenceHow can human beings kill or brutalize multitudes of other human beings? Focusing particularly on genocide, but also on other forms of mass killing, torture, and war, Ervin Staub explores the psychological, cultural, and societal roots of group aggression. He sketches a conceptual framework for the many influences on one group's desire to harm another: cultural and social patterns predisposing to violence, historical circumstances resulting in persistent life problems, and needs and modes of adaptation arising from the interaction of these influences. Such notions as cultural stereotyping and devaluation, societal self-concept, moral exclusion, the need for connection, authority orientation, personal and group goals, "better world" ideologies, justification, and moral equilibrium find a place in his analysis, and he addresses the relevant evidence from the behavioral sciences. Within this conceptual framework, Staub then considers the behavior of perpetrators and bystanders in four historical situations: the Holocaust (his primary example), the genocide of Armenians in Turkey, the "autogenocide" in Cambodia, and the "disappearances" in Argentina. Throughout, he is concerned with the roots of caring and the psychology of heroic helpers. In his concluding chapters, he reflects on the socialization of children at home and in schools, and on the societal practices and processes that facilitate the development of caring persons, and of care and cooperation among groups. A wide audience will find The Roots of Evil thought-provoking reading. |
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Contents
II | 3 |
III | 13 |
IV | 35 |
V | 51 |
VI | 67 |
VII | 79 |
VIII | 89 |
IX | 91 |
XIII | 151 |
XIV | 171 |
XV | 173 |
XVI | 188 |
XVII | 210 |
XVIII | 232 |
XIX | 247 |
XX | 249 |
Other editions - View all
The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence Ervin Staub Limited preview - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
accept actions activities acts aggression American anti-Semitism Argentina Armenians authoritarian authority became become behavior belief Books bystanders Cambodia camps cause characteristics communists contributed create culture described desire destruction devaluation difficult doctors effects enemy especially evil example experience expressed extreme feeling followed force gain genocide German give goals Hitler Holocaust hostility human ideals identity ideology important increase individual influence institutions intense internal Jewish Jews join lead leaders learning less limited lives mass killing means military moral motives murder nature Nazi obedience officers organization participation partly perpetrators policies political population positive potential practices Press problems processes psychological reason regarded relations responsibility result role rules self-concept serve shared social society strong suffering threat torture Turkey United University values victims violence York Young
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence |
| Author | Ervin Staub |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 1989 |
| ISBN | 0521422140, 9780521422147 |
| Length | 336 pages |
| Subjects | › Psychology / Personality Psychology / Social Psychology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |