Premium
Contradictory Behavior During Genocides 1
Author(s) -
Campbell Bradley
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2010.01177.x
Subject(s) - genocide , closeness , collectivism , sociology , individualism , social psychology , criminology , ethnic group , power (physics) , contempt , explanatory power , relevance (law) , social distance , psychology , epistemology , anthropology , law , political science , medicine , philosophy , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , disease , covid-19 , quantum mechanics , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
In all large‐scale genocides, rescuing occurs alongside killing. Some members of the aggressors’ ethnic group even risk their own lives to save members of the targeted group. Killing and rescuing occur closely together, and even the same persons may engage in both behaviors—killing on one occasion and rescuing on another. This article examines such cases—where the same individuals kill and rescue—and discusses their relevance to the explanation of genocide. Both collectivistic and individualistic theories of killing and rescuing—which explain these behaviors with the properties of groups or persons—are inadequate in accounting for those who do both. Using DonaldBlack’s (1995, 2000)strategy of pure sociology and my theory of genocide (Campbell, 2009), I offer an explanation of contradictory behavior by individuals during genocide. The behaviors themselves occur in different structures—killing where there is social distance and rescuing where there is social closeness. Individuals who exhibit contradictory behavior thus kill those who are distant and save those who are close. One feature of this analysis is its demonstration of the explanatory power of pure sociology, which is uniquely capable of explaining extreme variations in individual behavior.