1. The Organization As Instrument of Violence: The Military Case.
- Author
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Blake, Joseph A.
- Subjects
- *
VIOLENCE , *ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc. , *GOAL (Psychology) , *QUALITY of life , *SOCIAL groups , *SOCIOLOGY - Abstract
Proprietors of a society, in order to gain their ends, frequently resort to the use of force and violence. An important tool is the organization of violence. Massive violence is instituted by these organizations and at the behest of the societal proprietors as a means of goal attainment. One of the consequences of this massive violence is the disruption of the experience of everyday life and the imposition of another experience upon the actor. The organization, as a result of its own action, creates problems which must be solved in order that action may be continued. The organization must make combat action meaningful by making it relevant; it must devise strategies for successfully moving individuals from one reality to the other; it must define the parameters of the most relevant action, i.e., violence; it must socialize men into violence; it must devise strategies to constrain, channel, and direct the actions of men socialized into violence; it must, in short, construct a social reality designed to cope with the exigencies of the battle-moment. A discussion of some of the factors relevant to the success or failure of this project has been the subject of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 1970
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