In society when one person thinks of violence, one usually thinks of individual acts of violence. These types of violence are the kinds of violence most American fear, which causes us to lock our doors at night. But this is not the only kind of violence we are faced with. In today's society or the 21 centaury which every you would like to call it, we are faced with a more treating type of violence. "This type of violence is done by groups of people to advance or impede the goal of a social change" (Barkan vii). This type of violence goes by many titles, such as collective violence or political violence. In any society the most familiar type of violence is war. This topic was talked about extensively in class though the use of the book On Killing. But besides war, there are many other characteristics that feed into political violence, such as cults, hate groups, terrorists, police and revolutionaries. .
I often wonder why people resort to violence, of any kind, to solve a particular problem. Questions can be asked of the individual(s) involved in carrying out the attacks, but the questions never seem to be answered in a way that will show why violence is needed to resolve conflict. Rather, excuses are rendered in the hopes that by the logic used in explaining why conflict must be resolved, this will justify the actions. .
Through the years collective violence has left a mark on historical landscape throughout societies. It has imprinted U.S. history since colonial days. Yet people still do not quite understand the causes of it. Through this paper I will try to address some of the main causes for political violence though the explanation of why people or groups participate in political violence, and act they ways they do. .
When it comes to why people or groups what to participate in political violence the common goal of each is quite simple. Each of these desires one thing and one thing only, a "change".