In the name of the state the secret society of the torturers
- Torture is an extreme act of collective violence that is secretly executed in the name of a state. In order to explain the reasons why people torture others, individualist approaches concentrate on individuals' motives or interests. Contrary to that, the article argues that torture should be understood as a social relation. Thus, it takes the social relations of the group of torturers as a starting point. Firstly, following Georg Simmel's analysis of the secret society the paper argues that the group of torturers can adequately be conceptualized as a secret society; secondly, against this background the article reconstructs the conditions which structure torturers' agency; finally, this article offers an outline of the processes and dynamics that allows for explaining the phenomenon of torture. The thesis of the article argues that a relational sociology helps better explain and understand the social phenomenon of torture.
Author details: | Jürgen MackertORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11609-011-0165-9 |
ISSN: | 0863-1808 |
Title of parent work (German): | Berliner Journal für Soziologie = Journal de sociologie de Berlin |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | Wiesbaden |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | German |
Year of first publication: | 2011 |
Publication year: | 2011 |
Release date: | 2017/03/26 |
Tag: | Dynamics; Explanation; Georg Simmel; Processes; Relational sociology; Secret society of torturers; Torture |
Volume: | 21 |
Issue: | 3 |
Number of pages: | 29 |
First page: | 431 |
Last Page: | 459 |
Organizational units: | Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Sozialwissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |