Summary Collective Violence
(Lectures + Literature)
Course description:
This course focuses on collective forms of violence, that is, violence involving groups. Collective
violence ranges from gang violence and honour-based violence, to vigilantism, riots, extremism and
hate crimes. People often find collective violence difficult to understand. Why would a person join
a violent group? How do groups become involved in violence? In addition to answering these
questions, we will also discuss the consequences of collective violence for both individuals and
societies, as well as effective (but also less effective) prevention, intervention and healing programs.
Students will become acquainted with the most prominent theories on collective violence, derived
from psychological, sociological, and criminological literature. We will also learn about the
different methodological approaches researchers have used to study collective violence and what
they discovered as a result. We will apply these insights to understand better different violent
groups and the violent events of which they are a part.
Course objectives:
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Identify and apply relevant theories and methodologies to study collective violence;
Apply these theoretical perspectives to better understand "real-world" events;
Extract core ideas from the literature;
Reflect critically on these ideas;
Communicate core ideas to others;
Present their work in a clear and professional way.
1
, Week 1.1: Introduction
Lecture 1 – 28/10/2025:
In this lecture:
Discuss the notion of collective violence
Bring together the core ingredients that we will draw on in the rest of the course
What is collective violence?:
Collective violence: acts of violence that are carried out by people who identify themselves as
members of a group.
Not limited to physical spaces can also occur in digital contexts
Examples of collective violence:
o Bullying
o Coordinated military actions.
Determining whether such cases count as collective violence ultimately depends on how they are
framed and understood within a given social context.
Definitions of collective violence:
World Health ‘The [instrumental] use of violence by people who identify themselves as members of a group –
Organization whether this group is transitory or has a more permanent identity – against another group or set of
(2002): individuals, in order to achieve political, economic or social objectives’.
Littman & ‘Violence (i.e., intentionally harming another person(s), causing bodily injury or death) that is
Paluck (2015): carried out on behalf of one’s group’.
This definition specifically excludes forms of violence committed for purely individual motives,
such as school shootings, homicides, intimate partner violence, or child abuse. What distinguishes
collective violence is the presence of a broader collective identity behind the action.
Littman & A violent group is ‘a collective that uses violence to achieve its political, economic, or social
Paluck (2015): goals’ (i.e., a group whose members engage in collective violence).
Collective violence in the context of this course:
Collective violence will be studied primarily as a group phenomenon.
o It focuses on the actions and motivations of groups rather than individuals, and on
how group identity shapes violent behaviour.
Collective violence often arises in response to real or perceived threats.
o Although these threats do not necessarily have to exist objectively; it may be enough
for the perpetrators to frame them as such.
Course primarily concerns physical and interpersonal violence, instances in which
individuals are physically harmed.
Acts are typically premeditated or planned, as group identities and coordination do not
emerge spontaneously.
Collective violence includes both:
o Physical violence carried out by groups acting together (such as riots) and
o Violence perpetrated by individuals on behalf of a group (such as acts of
terrorism).
o But NOT violence where a victim is targeted based on group membership (e.g.
hate crime).
Locating collective violence:
2
,Collective violence can be studied at different levels of social interaction:
Micro-level:
o Focuses on individual people and their actions.
o Looks at how what each person does can add up to bigger violence.
Meso-level:
o Focuses on groups of people that stick together
over time.
o Groups have rules or leaders.
o This is where most studies of collective violence
focus.
Macro-level:
o Looks at whole societies.
o Considers big factors like politics, economy, and social problems that can lead to
violence.
Examples of collective violence at meso-level:
Violent public disorder (riots) & protests
Group violence against women
Terrorism / extremism
Hooliganism (violent sport fans)
Mass murder involving non-state actors
What do we not focus on:
Institutional/organizational violence
o Collectives in which participants’ use of violence is part of the daily operations of the
organization (mostly state actors, we also consider police).
Structural/systemic violence
o Large scale, often less visible patterns of cultural and political oppression and/or
economic exploitation.
Symbolic violence
o The ‘naturalization’ of dominance
Collective violence as social action:
Collective violence is a form of collective social action
o A number of people act meaningfully (not accidentally) together in response to the
(perceived) actions of others in the past, present or future.
Collective interpersonal violence
o Socially meaningful bodily harm doing by at least two assailants (or by an individual
on behalf of a group).
o With the intention to stop others (including third parties) from doing what they are
doing, have been doing or are perceived to be doing in the future; to make them
change their behaviour.
Collective violence and social relationships:
All forms of violence involve social relationships:
3
, Relationships between perpetrators,
victims, and
third parties,
Relationships that shape how violence occurs and how societies respond to it.
The nature of these relationships has implications for how violence is prevented, intervened in, and
healed from.
People use violence to shape or reshape social relationships according to moral ideas about how
these social relationships should be (Rai & Fiske 2013).
For example, conceptions of masculinity, authority, or loyalty within a group (e.g. being a man, a
parent, a police officer, or a gang member) can influence violent behaviour.
Collective violence and social identities:
Social identity plays a central role in understanding collective violence.
o Social identity: how people see themselves as part of a group. It’s about feeling you
belong to a group and caring about that group.
o How people relate their sense of self to the belief that they belong to a group, and the
value and emotional significance they attach to such belonging (Tajfel, 1981).
Social identity is not static; it is a dynamic process shaped by both intragroup (within the
group) and intergroup (between groups) interactions.
Antagonistic social identities are produced in inter- and intra-group interactions
o For instance, group conflict becomes a possibility when influential members of one
group convince other groups members that the acts of the members of another group
are unjust and hostile towards them.
Social geometry of collective violence:
Social geometry: how people are positioned vis-à-vis one another
o Relational intimacy, cultural homogeneity, functional dependence, and status.
Violence is social control (De La Roche, 2001)
o The form and amount of social control (law, vengeance, punishment) depends on the
social geometry of the conflict.
Conditions under which violence collectivizes: third parties take sides (partisanship)
o The social distances between third parties and principal parties are unequal
o When at least one of the principal parties has high status
o When intragroup distances within third parties are close
Social geometry of lynchings:
Lynchings: an informal group exerts violent social control on an individual. When a group
kills someone without a trial (illegal), usually to punish or scare them.
An extremely asymmetrical form of collective violence (De La Roche, 2001)
‘Classic’, against out-group members
‘Communal’, against in-group members (recidivists and witches)
How to study collective violence?:
4
(Lectures + Literature)
Course description:
This course focuses on collective forms of violence, that is, violence involving groups. Collective
violence ranges from gang violence and honour-based violence, to vigilantism, riots, extremism and
hate crimes. People often find collective violence difficult to understand. Why would a person join
a violent group? How do groups become involved in violence? In addition to answering these
questions, we will also discuss the consequences of collective violence for both individuals and
societies, as well as effective (but also less effective) prevention, intervention and healing programs.
Students will become acquainted with the most prominent theories on collective violence, derived
from psychological, sociological, and criminological literature. We will also learn about the
different methodological approaches researchers have used to study collective violence and what
they discovered as a result. We will apply these insights to understand better different violent
groups and the violent events of which they are a part.
Course objectives:
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Identify and apply relevant theories and methodologies to study collective violence;
Apply these theoretical perspectives to better understand "real-world" events;
Extract core ideas from the literature;
Reflect critically on these ideas;
Communicate core ideas to others;
Present their work in a clear and professional way.
1
, Week 1.1: Introduction
Lecture 1 – 28/10/2025:
In this lecture:
Discuss the notion of collective violence
Bring together the core ingredients that we will draw on in the rest of the course
What is collective violence?:
Collective violence: acts of violence that are carried out by people who identify themselves as
members of a group.
Not limited to physical spaces can also occur in digital contexts
Examples of collective violence:
o Bullying
o Coordinated military actions.
Determining whether such cases count as collective violence ultimately depends on how they are
framed and understood within a given social context.
Definitions of collective violence:
World Health ‘The [instrumental] use of violence by people who identify themselves as members of a group –
Organization whether this group is transitory or has a more permanent identity – against another group or set of
(2002): individuals, in order to achieve political, economic or social objectives’.
Littman & ‘Violence (i.e., intentionally harming another person(s), causing bodily injury or death) that is
Paluck (2015): carried out on behalf of one’s group’.
This definition specifically excludes forms of violence committed for purely individual motives,
such as school shootings, homicides, intimate partner violence, or child abuse. What distinguishes
collective violence is the presence of a broader collective identity behind the action.
Littman & A violent group is ‘a collective that uses violence to achieve its political, economic, or social
Paluck (2015): goals’ (i.e., a group whose members engage in collective violence).
Collective violence in the context of this course:
Collective violence will be studied primarily as a group phenomenon.
o It focuses on the actions and motivations of groups rather than individuals, and on
how group identity shapes violent behaviour.
Collective violence often arises in response to real or perceived threats.
o Although these threats do not necessarily have to exist objectively; it may be enough
for the perpetrators to frame them as such.
Course primarily concerns physical and interpersonal violence, instances in which
individuals are physically harmed.
Acts are typically premeditated or planned, as group identities and coordination do not
emerge spontaneously.
Collective violence includes both:
o Physical violence carried out by groups acting together (such as riots) and
o Violence perpetrated by individuals on behalf of a group (such as acts of
terrorism).
o But NOT violence where a victim is targeted based on group membership (e.g.
hate crime).
Locating collective violence:
2
,Collective violence can be studied at different levels of social interaction:
Micro-level:
o Focuses on individual people and their actions.
o Looks at how what each person does can add up to bigger violence.
Meso-level:
o Focuses on groups of people that stick together
over time.
o Groups have rules or leaders.
o This is where most studies of collective violence
focus.
Macro-level:
o Looks at whole societies.
o Considers big factors like politics, economy, and social problems that can lead to
violence.
Examples of collective violence at meso-level:
Violent public disorder (riots) & protests
Group violence against women
Terrorism / extremism
Hooliganism (violent sport fans)
Mass murder involving non-state actors
What do we not focus on:
Institutional/organizational violence
o Collectives in which participants’ use of violence is part of the daily operations of the
organization (mostly state actors, we also consider police).
Structural/systemic violence
o Large scale, often less visible patterns of cultural and political oppression and/or
economic exploitation.
Symbolic violence
o The ‘naturalization’ of dominance
Collective violence as social action:
Collective violence is a form of collective social action
o A number of people act meaningfully (not accidentally) together in response to the
(perceived) actions of others in the past, present or future.
Collective interpersonal violence
o Socially meaningful bodily harm doing by at least two assailants (or by an individual
on behalf of a group).
o With the intention to stop others (including third parties) from doing what they are
doing, have been doing or are perceived to be doing in the future; to make them
change their behaviour.
Collective violence and social relationships:
All forms of violence involve social relationships:
3
, Relationships between perpetrators,
victims, and
third parties,
Relationships that shape how violence occurs and how societies respond to it.
The nature of these relationships has implications for how violence is prevented, intervened in, and
healed from.
People use violence to shape or reshape social relationships according to moral ideas about how
these social relationships should be (Rai & Fiske 2013).
For example, conceptions of masculinity, authority, or loyalty within a group (e.g. being a man, a
parent, a police officer, or a gang member) can influence violent behaviour.
Collective violence and social identities:
Social identity plays a central role in understanding collective violence.
o Social identity: how people see themselves as part of a group. It’s about feeling you
belong to a group and caring about that group.
o How people relate their sense of self to the belief that they belong to a group, and the
value and emotional significance they attach to such belonging (Tajfel, 1981).
Social identity is not static; it is a dynamic process shaped by both intragroup (within the
group) and intergroup (between groups) interactions.
Antagonistic social identities are produced in inter- and intra-group interactions
o For instance, group conflict becomes a possibility when influential members of one
group convince other groups members that the acts of the members of another group
are unjust and hostile towards them.
Social geometry of collective violence:
Social geometry: how people are positioned vis-à-vis one another
o Relational intimacy, cultural homogeneity, functional dependence, and status.
Violence is social control (De La Roche, 2001)
o The form and amount of social control (law, vengeance, punishment) depends on the
social geometry of the conflict.
Conditions under which violence collectivizes: third parties take sides (partisanship)
o The social distances between third parties and principal parties are unequal
o When at least one of the principal parties has high status
o When intragroup distances within third parties are close
Social geometry of lynchings:
Lynchings: an informal group exerts violent social control on an individual. When a group
kills someone without a trial (illegal), usually to punish or scare them.
An extremely asymmetrical form of collective violence (De La Roche, 2001)
‘Classic’, against out-group members
‘Communal’, against in-group members (recidivists and witches)
How to study collective violence?:
4
