Violence and Society

Reviews / Votes

This new edition of Violence and Society skilfully updates the 2011 version, with a wealth of new theoretical and empirical material and two new chapters, on collective violence and the power of visual representations of violence and its effects. All the virtues of the first edition - empirical richness, theoretical breadth and intellectual imagination - are again in evidence and enhanced by the new material, including a brilliant demonstration of how microsocial theory can be developed to explain macrosocial violence. The book is an important and distinctive contribution to research and scholarship on violence. -- David Smith, Lancaster University Sociology has long focused on conflict but has relatively neglected violence as one of its forms and methods. In this new edition of Larry Ray's pioneering book, we have a thorough engagement with violence in its many modes and causes. He provides an intelligent social theory of violence that represents a powerful application of the sociological imagination, and like C Wright Mills, in many ways he offers us a striking diagnosis of the modern condition, with its propensity to violence. -- John Brewer, Queen's University This is one of the most comprehensive general studies of violence available. In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition Larry Ray provides in-depth analysis of micro, mezzo and macro research on violence across many disciplines. The book successfully brings together advanced sociological theory and up to date empirical material. With its wide-ranging scope, accessible prose and a wealth of original insights this book will appeal equally to scholars and students of violence. -- Sinisa Malesevic, University College, Dublin