RANDALL. COLLINS - Explosive Conflict: Time-Dynamics of Violence

This sequel to Randall Collins world-influential micro-sociology of violence introduces the question of time-dynamics: what determines how long conflict lasts and how much damage it does. Inequality and hostility are not enough to explain when and where violence breaks out. Time-dynamics are the time-bubbles when people are most nationalistic; the hours after a protest starts when violence is most likely to happen. Ranging from the three months of nationalism and hysteria after 9/11 to the assault on the Capitol in 2021, Randall Collins shows what makes some protests more violent than others and why some revolutions are swift and non-violent tipping-points while others devolve into lengthy civil wars. Winning or losing are emotional processes, continuing in the era of computerized war, while high-tech spawns terrorist tactics of hiding in the civilian population and using cheap features of the Internet as substitutes for military organization. Nevertheless, Explosive Conflict offers some optimistic discoveries on clues to mass rampages and heading off police atrocities, with practical lessons from the time-dynamics of violence.

Randall Collins is the Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. His articles and books are influential in many academic disciplines throughout the world. His books include Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change, and Conflict Sociology: A Sociological Classic Updated (Routledge).

Cover image: Larry Duenas

First published 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Collins, Randall, 1941 author.

Title: Explosive conflict : time-dynamics of violence / Randall Collins.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes

bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021036160 | ISBN 9781032157733 (hardback) |

ISBN 9781032157702 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003245629 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Social conflict. | Violence. | EqualitySocial aspects. |

Social mediaPolitical aspects. | Social mediaSocial aspects.

Classification: LCC HM1121 .C65 2022 | DDC 303.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021036160

ISBN: 978-1-032-15773-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-15770-2 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-24562-9 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003245629

Typeset in Garamond

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

PART ITime-Dynamics

1 C-Escalation and D-Escalation: A Theory of the Time-Dynamics of Conflict

Introduction

C-Escalation

Victory, Defeat, or Stalemate

D-Escalation

Victory Faction or Peace Faction

Perpetuating Conflict

Notes

References

Introduction

Solidarity Ritual in Lived Time

The 9/11 Pattern

Peak Moments Collapse Micro and Macro

Centered or Dispersed Revolutions

Banal Nationalism and Divisive Nationalism

Notes

References

3 Tipping Point Revolutions and State Breakdown Revolutions: Why Revolutions Succeed or Fail

Introduction

Tipping Point Revolutions with Easy Success

Tipping Point Revolutions that Fail

State Breakdown Revolutions

Reconciling the Two Theories

Tipping Point Revolutions and Imitative Revolutions

The Continuum of Revolutionary Effects, from Superficial to Deep

The Contemporary Era of Tipping Point Revolutions

References

4 Time-Dynamics of Violence from Micro to Macro

Introduction

Overview: Time-Dynamics within Different Scales of Violence

1. Micro-Rhythms of Entrainment, Disentrainment, and Dominated Entrainment

2. Violence-Triggering and Boredom Thresholds

3. Tension-Building and Violent Danger-Time Zones

4. Revolutionary Tipping Points: Duration of Violent Protests

5. Mass Crisis Solidarity and Hysteria Zones

6. Macro-Time-Forks

Conclusion: Nested Time-Patterns and Meta-Time

Notes

References

5 Material Interests Are Ambiguous, So Interaction Rituals Steer Political Movements

Introduction

Interests Are Ambiguous as to Compatriots

Interests Are Ambiguous as to the Short, Medium, and Long Run

Interests Do Not Determine Tactics

The Superior Success of Opportunism

Interests Dont Predict Outcomes, Because of Multiple Causality

Electoral Politics Is a Blunt Instrument When It Comes to Making Major Policy Changes

Successful Interaction Rituals Predict Choices by Focusing Ideologies and Interests

References

6 Mood-Swings in the Downfall of the English Revolution

Introduction

Eight Mood-Swings in the Fall of the English Revolution

Why Did Violent Conflicts Almost Always Abort in Those Mood-Swings?

Time-Dynamics of Emotion Switches

Notes

References

7 When History Holds Its Breath: The Take-Off of the French Revolution

Introduction

Emotional Standstill on the Night of August 4, 1789and Its Antecedents

From EE-Loss to EE-Gain: Switching Sides

Note

References

Introduction

Assault on the Winter Palace, 1917

Wavering among Government Forces

Wavering among Government Politicians

Wavering among the Revolutionaries

Top-Down and Bottom-Up

Wavering among Official Forces at the Capitol, 2021

Police Lines Retreat, Violence, and Crowd Management

Fraternization

Looting and Ritual Destruction

Paris, August 10, 1792

Lessons Learned?

Notes

References

PART IIIWar and Sport: Dynamics of Winning, Losing, and Stalemate

9 The Micro-Sociology of Sport

Introduction

Three Ways of Winning a Game

Bodily Micro-Sociology in Violence and in Sport

Confrontational Tension/Fear in Violence and in Sport

Sports without Face-to-Face Conflict

The Micro-Sociology of Sports as a Laboratory

Notes

References

10 Battle Dynamics: Victory and Defeat

Introduction