Socialization and Violence

This essay introduces the theoretical framework for a larger collaboration on the social production of violence. Its analytic hook is socialization, or the process through which actors adopt the norms and rules of a given community. I argue that it is key to understanding violence in a variety of settings, including civil war, national militaries, post-conflict societies, and urban gangs. While socialization theory has a long history in the social sciences, I do not simply pull it off the shelf and apply it to a new – conflict - setting. Instead, the project draws upon insights from several different disciplines to rethink core features of socialization. I thus highlight its layered and multiple nature; the role of instrumental calculation in it; and several relevant mechanisms - from persuasion, to organized rituals, to sexual violence, to violent display. Furthermore, we examine instances where socialization is resisted, as well as the staying power of norms and practices in an individual who leaves the group. Empirically, we explore the link between socialization and violence in para-military patrols in Guatemala; vigilantes in the Bosnian civil war; gangs in post-conflict Nicaragua; rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador and Colombia; post-conflict peacekeepers; and the US and Israeli military. By documenting this link, we contribute to an emerging research program on group dynamics and conflict, specifying better their all-important scope conditions.