Violence and the culture of terror: Notes on a violent society

Abstract

One of the fundamental questions of the great sociologists concerns the origin of human actions in the social realm. Regarding violence, this question can have at least two answers: a) violence is part of human essence (human beings are violent by nature), or b) socialization—whatever is understood by it—makes human beings violent. The first answer may assume that a human essence exists; the second may start from the premise that this essence is historical.