Culture and Aggression—From Context to Coercion

Abstract

This article is an attempt to study the neglected linkages between culture and aggression. It does so by conceptualizing culture as a set of affordances and constraints that channel the expression of coercive means of social control by self and others. All cultural systems represent solutions to the problems associated with distributing desired material and social resources among its group members while maintaining social order and harmony. Norms are developed surrounding the exercise of mutual influence in the process of resource allocation, favoring some and marginalizing others. Violations of these norms by resource competitors are conceptualized as “aggressive” behaviors and stimulate a process of justified counterattack, escalating the violence. The current data from both societal-level and individual-level studies are examined and integrated in light of this organizing framework, and future studies are proposed to explore the interface between culture and aggression more productively.