‘Why Humans Fight: The Social Dynamics of Close-Range Violence’
Research Question
This project aims to answer the question: Why do humans fight? The focus is on the micro-sociology of violent action with the spotlight on the processes that make fighting and killing possible. The project combines theoretical and historical analysis with the ethnographic material and interviews with the ex-combatants collected in my fieldworks over the last ten years.
Project Description
This project aims to provide a comprehensive answer to the question: Why do humans fight? The project combines theoretical analysis with the empirical research material that I have collected in several fieldworks over the last ten years (mostly in-depth interviews with the former combatants in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland and some archival data). In theoretical terms the project critically analyses most up to day research on violent encounters including studies on fighting and close-range violence in revolutions, uprisings, riots, wars, insurgencies, terrorism, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. The aim is to develop a sociologically grounded approach to explore the social dynamics of violence in different contexts.
Selected Publications
1) S. Malesevic (2019) Grounded Nationalisms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2) S. Malesevic (2017) The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3) S. Malesevic (2010) The Sociology of War and Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.