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Violence and Revolutionary Change:

amnesia | Jan 22, 2010 |

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Violent Crime:

This refers to common crime. Even reasonably well ordered communities experience violence. Violent / common crime tends to increase in urban areas. Under deteriorating social conditions, criminal acts tend to spread widely among certain groups. Individual crimes involve the distribution of wealth and power.

Social Banditry and Gangsterism:

'Social banditry' refers to organized crime. Gangsterism is said to be its urban counter-part. Gangs maintain hierarchical organizations and they persist through time. Popular participation in organized crime remains generally low in stable communities, but tend to increase under conditions of social decay.

Peasant Rising and Urban Riots:

Peasant risings are also known as rebellions. This, together with urban riots, are common mostly amongst the more deprived. These may be described as outbursts of rage, in aid of rival communal or racial groups and representatives of the more privileged sector. These demonstrations of anger and resentment, however, seem to usually lack any coherent program of transformation.

Guerilla Raids:

This involves the engagement of rural-based violence, in which a higher degree of political coherence and

direction is demonstrated than with social banditry. Guerilla violence is associated with revolutionary objectives. Guerilla's possess organizational continuity, as with social banditry

Relative Deprivation:

Relative deprivation refers to the tensions that develop as a result of a discrepancy between value expectations: goods and condtions of life which people believe they are entitled to; and value capabilites: goods and condtions of life which people believe they are capable of getting and keeping. Consequently, this is what drives man to engage in acts of violence.

Political Violence:

With regard to political violence, humans are said to become frustrated, showing signs of aggression. Aggression is a trait of individual behaviour; of the actions of those in rebellion against their plotical community. Thus; the concept of relative deprivation, and its explainaition of plotical violence, go hand-in-hand. Each of these: relative deprivation as well as political violence, is concerned with bringing about change ie. revolution of some sort. using forms of violence

Revolutions:

Revolutions are said to cause change, and these induced changes are refered to as 'outcome.' Thus; the 'outcome' is the revolution. The term revolution may be further explained: It may be a sudden change in the social location of political power, which is almost always violence induced, and / or, a sudden and violent overthrow of an established political order. The revolutionary process influences the outcome. Revolutionary processess are said to be violent in nature. Thus; political revolutions refer to abrupt, illegal mass violence aimed at the overthrow of political regime as a step torward over-all social change. The duration refers to the length of time it takes for changes to occur; the amount of time it takes for dramatic changes to come about. Certain definitions imply that revolutions come about over short periods of time, for example John Galtung claims that a revolution is a fundamental change of social structure brought about in a short period of time. While others such as Mark Hangopian, sees a revolution as an acute prolonged crises in one or more of the traditional systems of the stratification of a plotical community. Key concepts, such as: 'sudden' ; 'radical' ; 'prolonged' ; 'short period of time' ; 'given time span' (etc.) are used to explain the duration of revolutions, forming part of many definitions supplied. Direction is essential in the process of revolutionary change, thus; there is a degree of deliberate guidance in the process of revolution. According to Peter Calvert: revolutions are forcible interventions, either to replace governments, or to change the process of governement. Here we can deduce that the term "for intervention implies deliberate guidance.

A Summary of The Causes of Revolutions and Rebellions, Psychologically Considered:

Revolutions involve a far greater degree of segments of the population than rebellions do. The degree of intensity of feeling in revolutions is far greater than that of rebellions. The former also takes a much longer time to develop than the latter, thus; the violent phase of a revolution is said to extend over a much longer period of time, and the result is much more savage. Hence; after a revolution, much bitterness lingers on for decades, or even centuaries afterward. Revolutions and rebellions are said to possess like origins, they however, do differ in result. Thus; it is evident that the main difference is, rather, in the immediate result of the revolutions and rebellions, than in its causes; violent action; and long-range consequences.