Malešević offers a novel sociological answer to the age-old question: 'Why do humans fight?'. Instead of focusing on the motivations of solitary individuals, he emphasises the centrality of the social and historical contexts that make fighting possible. He argues that fighting is not an individual attribute, but a social phenomenon shaped by one's relationships with other people. Drawing on recent scholarship across a variety of academic disciplines as well as his own interviews with the former combatants, Malešević shows that one's willingness to fight is a contextual phenomenon shaped by specific ideological and organisational logic. This book explores the role biology, psychology, economics, ideology, and coercion play in one's experience of fighting, emphasising the cultural and historical variability of combativeness. By drawing from numerous historical and contemporary examples from all over the world, Malešević demonstrates how social pugnacity is a relational and contextual phenomenon that possesses autonomous features.
Author(s): Siniša Malešević
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 386
City: Cambridge
01.0_pp_i_ii_Why_Humans_Fight
02.0_pp_iii_iii_Why_Humans_Fight
03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page
04.0_pp_v_vi_Dedication
05.0_pp_vii_vii_Contents
06.0_pp_viii_x_Acknowledgements
07.0_pp_1_15_Introduction
08.0_pp_16_44_The_Body_and_the_Mind
09.0_pp_45_68_Profiting_from_Fighting
10.0_pp_69_96_Clashing_Beliefs
11.0_pp_97_128_Enforced_Fighting
12.0_pp_129_160_Fighting_for_Others
13.0_pp_161_188_Avoiding_Violence
14.0_pp_189_221_Social_Pugnacity_in_the_Combat_Zone
15.0_pp_222_250_Organisational_Power_and_Social_Cohesion_on_the_Battlefield
16.0_pp_251_273_Emotions_and_Close-Range_Fighting
17.0_pp_274_306_Killing_in_War
18.0_pp_307_325_The_Future_of_Close-Range_Violence
19.0_pp_326_329_Conclusion
20.0_pp_330_331_Methodology_and_Data_Collection
21.0_pp_332_362_References
22.0_pp_363_368_Index
