Theories of Violence: A Review of Textbooks on Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Abstract

This review of 14 frequently used textbooks on human behavior and the social environment was conducted to assess for content regarding theories of violence, including etiology and impact. This analysis begins with a review and summary of James Gilligan's text Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic, which proposes an integrated theory of violence that includes individual, social, and cultural factors that cause violence. Gilligan's theory provides a useful framework to ground the analysis of textbooks on human behavior and the social environment, which revealed inconsistency regarding content on violence. Few of the textbooks reviewed discussed causes or impact of violence from the individual, social, and environmental perspectives.