SOCIAL CHANGE AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE - CROSS-NATIONAL PATTERNS (FROM VIOLENCE IN AMERICA BY HUGH D. GRAHAM & TED R. GURR - SEE NCJ-000763)

• NCJ Number: 5538
• Author(s): I K FEIERABEND; R L FEIERABEND
• Date Published: 1969
• Length: 46 pages
• Corporate Author: National Commission on the Causes & Prevention of Violence
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: CHPT 18, P 497-542

Annotation

EXAMINATION OF SELECTED ASPECTS OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND THEIR EFFECT UPON POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND THE INTERNAL POLITICAL STABILITY OF NATIONS.

Abstract

THE STUDY COVERS 84 NATIONS OVER AN 18-YEAR PERIOD, 1948-1965, IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISCERN BROAD GLOBAL PATTERNS OF BOTH CHANGE AND VIOLENCE. THE HYPOTHESES WERE THAT MODERN AND TRADITIONAL NATIONS TEND TOWARD STABILITY, WHILE TRANSITION LEADS TO POLITICAL TURMOIL AND VIOLENCE. ALSO, THE CLOSER A COUNTRY TO SOME THEORETICAL MIDPOINT BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY, THE STRONGER THE IMPULSE TO POLITICAL INSTABILITY. THE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT THE FASTER THE RATE OF SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE WITHIN A SOCIETY, THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF POLITICAL UNREST. THESE GENERAL FINDINGS POINT TO THE FACT THAT ONE CANNOT ASSUME THAT MODERNIZATION WILL BRING POLITICAL STABILITY IN ITS WAKE. WHILE HIGHLY MODERN COUNTRIES TEND TO BE STABLE, THE PROCESS OF ATTAINING MODERNITY IS ONE THAT IS RIFE WITH POLITICAL UNREST. FURTHERMORE, THE MORE RAPID THE MODERNIZATION, THE GREATER THE IMPACT ON INCREASING POLITICAL VIOLENCE. ONLY AFTER CERTAIN THRESHOLD SOCIOECONOMIC VALUES HAVE BEEN ATTAINED MAY THE STABILIZING POLITICAL BENEFITS OF MODERNITY BE EXPERIENCED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)