Violence and Nonviolence
Pathways to Understanding
- Gregg Barak - Eastern Michigan University, USA
"Gregg Barak's Violence and Nonviolence is a thoughtful, comprehensive examination of violence in the United States. Structurally and conceptually this book works. Barak addresses violence in an interdisciplinary way, addressing history, psychology, biology, cultural studies, and sociology. Moreover, Barak does an excellent job of discussing the intersection of race, class, and gender and those relationships with violence."
-- Heather Melton, University of Utah
"Clearly, the strength of this book is its comprehensive and reciprocal approach. I found this to be an enjoyable and provocative book… that treats the topic holistically and offers a vision for overcoming current patterns of violence. I am convinced that this is an important work that will ultimately be well-received by undergraduates, graduate students, violence specialists, and general readers."
-- Mathew T. Lee, University of Akron
"I think that the strengths of this book are twofold: Barak's approach disaggregates violence into interpersonal, institutional, and structural violence which is very important yet rarely done; the latter part of the book explores the pathways to nonviolence, an underrepresented area in the study of violence."
--Charis Kubrin/Sociology, George Washington University
"I have devoted close to 20 years studying and teaching about violence and I must say that this is a comprehensive book....I strongly believe that Barak has done an outstanding review of the extant literature and touches upon key issues of central concern to those of us who are social scientific experts on violence."
--Walter Dekeseredy, Ohio University
Violence and Nonviolence: Pathways to Understanding is the first book to provide an integrative, systematic approach to the study of violence and nonviolence in one volume. Eminent scholar and award-winning author Gregg Barak examines virtually all forms of violence—from verbal abuse to genocide—and treats all of these expressions of violence as interpersonal, institutional, and structural occurrences. In the context of recovery and nonviolence, Barak addresses peace and conflict studies, legal rights, social justice, and various nonviolent movements. Employing an interdisciplinary framework, Barak emphasizes the importance of culture, media, sexuality, gender, and social structure in developing a comprehensive theory of these two separate, but inseparable phenomena.
This innovative and accessible volume includes
- Figures, tables, and illustrations that reinforce important concepts and relationships
- Introduces a new, original theory of reciprocal violence and nonviolence
- Numerous case studies on violence and recovery throughout the book
- Chapter summaries and review questions to aid student comprehension
- Models of nonviolence such as "mutuality," "altruistic humanism," "positive peacemaking," and "resiliency"
Designed to be a core text for graduate and undergraduate courses on violence in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, and social work departments, Violence and Nonviolence is also an outstanding supplementary text for violence against women and criminal behavior courses. This book will transform the way students and readers think about violence, nonviolence, and the reciprocal relationship between the two.
Supremacy (2000)
"Gregg Barak’s Violence and Nonviolence is a thoughtful, comprehensive examination of violence in the United States. Structurally and conceptually this book works. Barak addresses violence in an interdisciplinary way, addressing history, psychology, biology, cultural studies, and sociology. Moreover, Barak does an excellent job of discussing the intersection of race, class, and gender and those relationships with violence."
"Clearly, the strength of this book is its comprehensive and reciprocal approach. I found this to be an enjoyable and provocative book… that treats the topic holistically and offers a vision for overcoming current patterns of violence. I am convinced that this is an important work that will ultimately be well-received by undergraduates, graduate students, violence specialists, and general readers."
"I think that the strengths of this book are twofold: Barak’s approach disaggregates violence into interpersonal, institutional, and structural violence which is very important yet rarely done; the latter part of the book explores the pathways to nonviolence, an underrepresented area in the study of violence."
"I have devoted close to 20 years studying and teaching about violence and I must say that this is a comprehensive book....I strongly believe that Barak has done an outstanding review of the extant literature and touches upon key issues of central concern to those of us who are social scientific experts on violence."
This is the book that has been used in the past for this class and seems to be the most fitting for the subject.
The book is a strong fit for the course objectives of Sociology of Violence and Culture. I also like the variety of information it presents on peacemaking and alternative dispute resolution methods, these are concepts that I believe my students (many of whom are in law enforcement or victim assistance programs) will find beneficial in their professional lives.
Sample Materials & Chapters
Chapter One: Violence in Perspective
Chapter Seven: Sexuality and Violence
Sage College Publishing
