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Violent conflict in Meta‘ society
Author(s) -
DILLON RICHARD G.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1980.7.4.02a00040
Subject(s) - social conflict , sociology , criminology , politics , political violence , social structure , political economy , political science , epistemology , law , philosophy
A critical review of social structural approaches to violent conflict reveals a composite theoretical model that contrasts peaceful conflicting loyalties type societies with violent fraternal interest group type societies. Ethnohistorical data on warfare and fighting from a precolonial African society are used to illuminate relationships between violence and social structure more complex than any envisioned by advocates of the social structural approach. The analysis also yields a number of specific questions to be tested in cross‐cultural research. [law, warfare, political organization, conflicting loyalties theory, Africa]