Systematic ethological observations can make an important contribution to the study of collective violence in humans. Presentation given at ISHE conference, Montreal, 2002

1. Explanations of crowd behavior:
distortions (Berk, 1972)
Using ethological observations to • Characterized as irrational, instinctive, etc.
study riots • Use of metaphores (e.g. “group mind”)
• Different levels of analysis confused
• Illusion of unanimity
Otto Adang
• Unverified speculations about processes
ISHE, Montreal, August 8, 2002
Research on riots Ethological observations
• Commissions • Direct recording of observations
• Antecedent conditions • Limited number of well-defined behavioral
• Newspaper reports categories
• Arrest figures • Focus on interaction
• Participant observation • Focal group
• Systematic research can’t be done? • Comparative approach
• Just do it!
Research questions Research steps
• What happens: who uses violence, how • Literature search, preliminary observations
many, what type of violence, against whom, (video, real-life) and testing methodology
under what circumstances, what response? • Definition of behavioural categories
• What factors influence the initiation and • Selection of events
escalation of violence? • Observations (and other data collection)
• Analysis
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2. Behavioral categories Violence
• Violence • Physical violence
• Annoyance/ provocation • Throwing object at individual
• Police measures • Throwing object at inanimate object
• Possible triggers • Demolition
• Context
• Phase • Violent initiatives and bouts of violence
Police measures Possible triggers for violence
• Stopping • Agonistic context
• Dispersal • Police measures
• Arrest • Competition
• Provocations
• regular, riot, mounted, dog, arrest squad • Football: match events
Annoyance/ threat/ provocation Selection of events
• Verbal insults and threats • “High-risk” football matches
• Non-verbal threats • Protest events with potential for violence
• Blocking street/ entrance (previous experiences, announcement of
• Running charge violence, police deployment)
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3. Observations Some data
• Over 700 observation hours • 428 violent initiatives by protesters/ fans
• Around 71 football matches: 80% with • 130 violent initiatives by police
violence • 385 instance of annoyance, threats etc.
• 139 protest events: 53% with violence • 666 police measures
• Quantitative analysis of reliable and
comparable observations
Triggers for violent initiatives Targets of violence
Percentage of violent initiatives
Percentage of initiatives
60
70
50
60
40
Protesters (N=138) 50
30
Fans (N=290) 40 Protesters (N=138)
20
30 Fans (N=290)
10
0
20
10
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Police Playing Others Objects
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field
Forms of violence used Maximum number of violent individuals per bout
80
Percentage of violent initiatives
80
P e rce n ta g e o f vio le n t
70 70
60 60
50 50
b o u ts
Protesters (N=138) Protest (N=138)
40 40
Fans (N=290) Football (N =262)
30 30
20
20
10
10
0
0
1 to 4 5 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 49 50 or over
Throwing Throwing Physical Demolition
objects at objects at violence of objects Number of individuals
individuals objects
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4. Refutation of common
misconceptions
• illusion of unanimity
• targets not randomly chosen
• notion of “trigger”/ flashpoint not very
helpful
• most “football hooliganism” does not result
from violence on the pitch
• conflict does not typically arise after police
intervention
Conclusion: it can be done!
Systematic ethological observations
can make an important contribution to
the study of collective violence in
humans
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