Dominance, Ghettos, and Violent Crime

Abstract

Across the minor communities that comprise the heart of our larger corporal communities, the problem of violent crime expresses itself in characteristically different ways. All violent crime is a by-product of the struggle for domination that occurs in one form or another among all types of people in every type of minor community. However, the predominant individual type that inhabits a minor community varies along with a minor community's prevailing norm for settling dominance disputes and, in turn, the severity of its violent crime problem. In “malignant” minor communities, the ultraviolent and violent people are the predominant individual types, the prevailing norm for settling disputes over dominance is the proverbial “tooth and claw” and violent crime is rampant. In “civil” minor communities, the predominant individual types are the marginally violent person and pacifist; the prevailing norm for settling dominance disputes involves a variety of nonviolent tactics; and violent crimes are a rarity. In “turbulent” minor communities, there is neither a predominant individual type nor a prevailing norm for resolving dominance disputes, so violent crime is a smaller problem than in malignant minor communities, but still a much bigger one than in civil ones.