By Sara Naicker

Data analysis shows how violence in childhood is connected to health and social problems almost three decades later.

This policy brief uses the adverse childhood experiences framework, coupled with data from the Birth to Thirty cohort study, to show the impact of violence and adversity on the lives of South Africans. It connects violence and adversity in childhood to health and social problems almost three decades later. Understanding, foregrounding and addressing the effects of violence and adversity are essential for national development

Policy Brief 174

South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2022. 16p.

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By John Dewey

"The School and Society" by John Dewey delves into the fundamental principles of education and its essential role in shaping society. Originally published in 1899, Dewey's insights remain relevant as ever, advocating for a holistic approach to education that goes beyond traditional classroom boundaries. Dewey challenges the conventional wisdom of his time, emphasizing the importance of experiential learning, active participation, and the integration of education with societal needs. This book serves as a timeless manifesto for reimagining the purpose and practice of education to cultivate engaged, thoughtful citizens in a rapidly evolving world.

Project Gutenberg. University of Chicago press. 1900. 59p.

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By William James

In "Principles of Psychology Vol. 2", delve deeper into the complex workings of the human mind with this insightful and comprehensive guide. Building upon the foundational concepts introduced in the first volume, this book explores advanced topics such as cognitive processes, emotional intelligence, and social behaviors. Authored by esteemed psychologist Dr. A. Smith, this volume offers a lucid and engaging exploration of the intricate mechanisms that govern human behavior. Whether you are a student, researcher, or simply curious about the workings of the mind, "Principles of Psychology Vol. 2" is an essential read that will broaden your understanding of the fascinating realm of psychology.

NY. Henry Holt. 1918. 508p.

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By William James

"The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1" is a seminal work in the field of psychology written by William James, a prominent American psychologist and philosopher. Originally published in 1890, this groundbreaking book explores the fundamentals of human behavior, cognition, and emotion.

In this comprehensive volume, James delves into various aspects of the human mind, examining topics such as consciousness, perception, memory, and the self. Drawing on a combination of philosophical insights and empirical research, he presents a holistic view of the complexities of the human psyche.

Whether you are a student of psychology, a researcher, or simply curious about the workings of the mind, "The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1" is a must-read that continues to shape our understanding of human behavior to this day.

NY. Henry Holt. 1918. 505p.

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By WILLIAM JAMES

TALKS TO TEACHERS ON PSYCHOLOGY: AND TO STUDENTS ON SOME OF LIFE'S IDEALS provides timeless insights from the renowned psychologist William James. In this illuminating collection, James shares his profound thoughts on the nature of education and the pursuit of personal growth. Addressing both educators and students, he delves into the complexities of human behavior, the essence of learning, and the cultivation of inner virtues. With a blend of intellectual rigor and practical wisdom, James offers a guiding light for all those engaged in the noble endeavor of teaching and learning. This book serves as a treasure trove of knowledge, inspiring readers to reflect on the fundamental principles that shape our understanding of the mind and spirit.

NY. HOLT AND COMPANY. 1925. 80p.

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John Dewey

Psychology and social practice according to DEWEY are intricately intertwined, with each influencing and shaping the other. DEWEY believed that understanding human behavior and thought processes is crucial in creating meaningful societal change. By examining how individuals perceive and interact with their environment, psychologists can help identify and address social issues at their roots. DEWEY emphasized the importance of integrating psychological insights into social practices to promote collective well-being and societal progress. This holistic approach highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences and the significance of considering both individual and societal factors in addressing complex challenges.

Chicago, Chicago University. 1901. 22p.

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Edited by NANETTE HEIMAN and JOAN GRANT

Else Frenkel-Brunswik: Selected Papers offers a comprehensive collection of the pioneering psychologist's most significant works. Frenkel-Brunswick's insightful research on authoritarianism, prejudice, and personality dynamics continues to be influential in the field of psychology. This curated selection provides readers with a deep dive into her groundbreaking theories and empirical studies, shedding light on the complexities of human behavior and societal attitudes. A must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in the intersection of psychology and social issues.

International Universities Press, 1974, 333 pages

By T.J. Scheff

From the preface: “About nine years ago, after a decade of research on mental hospitals, I became convinced by the flaws I saw in existing programs that any system of treatment would be incomplete if it were based entirely upon professional therapists. Such a system, I thought, would need to be augmented by the development of a large group of lay therapists. These therapists would be trained and supervised by professionals. I had in mind relatively brief, simple training and supervision. My thought was that lay therapists coulddeal with many of the most frequently occurring types of emotional crises. Under these conditions, mental health professionals could be used as specialists, particularly as trainers and supervisors, and as therapists only for complex, difficult, or intractable cases…”

Berkeley. University Of California Press . 1979. 246p. This book contains mark-up

In this classic study, Reich provides insight into the phenomenon of fascism, which continues to ravage the international community in ways great and small.

Drawing on his medical expereinces with men and women of various classes, races, nations, and religious beliefs, Reich refutes the still generally held notion that fascism is a specific characteristic of certain nationalities or a political party ideology that is imposed on innocent people by means of force or political manneuvers. "Fascism on only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man's character. It is the basic emotional civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life."―Wilhelm Reich

Responsibility for the elimination of fascism thus results with the masses of average people who might otherwise support and champion it.By Wilhelm Reich. Translated by Vincent R. Carfagno

NY. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 1970. 420p.

By Willam McDougall

"Until the later decades of the nineteenth century, psychology continued to concern itself almost exclusively with the mind of man conceived in an abstract fashion, not as the mind of any particular individual, but as the mind of a representative individual considered in abstraction from his social settings as something given to our contemplation fully formed and complete..."

William McDougall was an early 20th century psychologist who wrote a number of highly influential textbooks, and was particularly important in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology in the English-speaking world. He was an opponent of behaviourism and stands somewhat outside the mainstream of the development of Anglo-American psychological thought in the first half of the 20th century; but his work was very well known and respected among lay people.Group Psychology itself consists properly of two parts, that which is concerned to discover the most general principles of group life, and that which applies these principles to the study of particular kinds and examples of group life. The former is logically prior to the second; though in practice it is hardly possible to keep them wholly apart. The present volume is concerned chiefly with the former branch. Only when the general principles of group life have been applied to the understanding of particular societies, of nations and the manifold system of groups within the nation, will it be possible for Social Psychology to return upon the individual life and give of it an adequate account in all its concrete fullness.

NY. G. P. Putnam. 1920. 423p. CONTAINS MARK-UP

By H. Stuart Hughes

From the Introduction: The present study is an essay in intellectual history.. But to declare that one is writing intellectual his­tory is really to say nothing until one has defined the term. History of this sort obviously deals with the thoughts and emotions of men—with reasoned argu­ment and with passionate outburst alike. The whole range of human expression—as revealed in writing, speech, practice, and tradition—falls within its orbit. Indeed every declaration of mankind more explicit than a bestial cry may in some sense be considered the sub­ject matter of intellectual history.

It might well be argued that this subject matter is not the deepest stuff of history. Below it (to use the work­able but deceptively concrete metaphor of the “high” and “low” when dealing with the human psyche) lies the realm of unorganized sentiments and routine eco­nomic processes. Marx called this realm the “sub­stratum.” For Marx the important thing to know about it was the character of the regime of production that inexorably conditioned human life: for the great social

NY. Vintage Books. Random House. 1958. 448p. THIS BOOK CONTAINS MARK-UP

By Ernest Becker

What I have tried to do here is to present in a brief, challenging, and readable way the most important things that the various disciplines have dis­covered about man, about what makes people act the way they do. This is the most intimate question that we know, and what I want to do is to present to the intelligent reader that knowl­edge that the experts themselves get excited about. One curi­ous thing that separates the social from the natural sciences is that the natural sciences, with much fanfare, immediately com­municate to the general public their most exciting new ideas: the social sciences tend to nurse their significant insights in scholarly oblivion. As a result people feel that the social sciences are not doing anything important or exciting. But the opposite is true: probably the most thrilling and potentially liberating discoveries have been made in the fields of anthropology, so­ciology, psvchology, and psychiatry. The result is that we are today in possession of an excellent general theory of human nature, and this is what I want to reveal to the reader.

NY. The Free Press. 1971. 238p.

By Thomas J. Harbin.

“This is a book that I had to write. I had to write it for two reasons. First, I need­ed some materials to give to my patients, men who have a problem dealing with their anger. But writing this book also helped me organize my thoughts and feelings about the role of anger in my own life. Many years ago, others had told me that I had a problem with anger, but I didn’t take them seriously. In fact, I may never have been motivated to take this look at myself if I had not come close to ruining the most important thing in my life: my marriage. On our 10th wedding anniversary, my wife told me that “if the next 10 years are going to be like the last 10 years, I’m outta here.” Her words were not spoken in anger, but there was no doubt that she meant what she had said. What I had seen as a very good marriage with occasional arguments, she had seen as a constant, heavy burden. She felt as though she was always walking on eggshells so as not to “set me off.” When we had a disagreement, I brooded about it for days. Any time she disagreed with me, I immediately went on the attack and tried to defeat her and her point of view by almost any means. When she told me that she had taken all that she could stand, I took her seriously and decided that I had to do some frank soul searching to keep from losing the most impor­tant person I had ever known.”

NY. Marlowe & Company. 2000.217p.

By Katrine Rummelhoff

This thesis addresses the, now infamous, incel community. The term Incel is an abbreviation of “involuntary celibate”, and is defined by the incel community, as a person who desires, but is unable to obtain a romantic or sexual relationship. Over the last decade incels have gained notoriety due to the unabashed misogynistic rhetoric that is cultivated within the online communities they have created for themselves. Additionally several mass killers have been linked to the group, and as a whole the community is said to be responsible for a death toll of over 47. As such incels have been designated a domestic terrorism thereat by, among others, International Center for Counter Terrorism and The Texas Department of Public Safety. Yet, there is still much that remains unknown about incels and the online world they have created for themselves. In order to broaden this understanding I have performed a netnographic (Kozinets 2010, 2015) study of the website incels.co, an international forum site exclusively catering to self-proclaimed incels, and dedicated to the discussion of inceldom. Through daily observation of the site and an analysis of over 100 forum threads I have tried to determine the overarching values, beliefs, worldviews, and ideologies present within their discourse. Further, this study attempts to create an understanding of the appeal this community has to its members. The material collected in this study is first placed within its historical, cultural and material context, in order to understand the circumstances surrounding the resurgence of male supremacist ideology in online spaces. Subsequently the data from incels.co is analyzed using political, sociological and psychological theories on radicalization, evaluating the claim made by others that incel terrorism is a growing threat. Findings indicate however, that although the incels.co community is engaging in a radicalization of beliefs there is insufficient evidence to support a radicalization of behaviors. To make sense of the structure and organization that facilitates the radicalization of beliefs, the incels.co community is then examined through a subcultural lens. Finding that the site offers a succinct sense of subcultural belonging, providing a community of shared identity, shared meanings, countercultural values, and guidelines and justifications for behavior. Yet, it is also apparent that the notion of involuntary celibacy extends beyond this subculture, and as such I make the claim that not all incels are subcultural, but that a distinct incel subculture exists. Lastly, this study looks at the collectivist aspects of the incel community and makes the claim that incels.co functions as a platform for extremist beliefs to be cultivated and subsequently internalized by its users. With the help of Interaction Ritual Theory (Collins 2004) the interplay performed online is seen as a ritual engagement, where users will entrain around central ideas and objects, resulting in an experience of collective effervescence, emotional energy and group solidarity. Through such collective focus, ideas, beliefs, moral codes, myths and sacred objects pertaining to women, social hierarchies, and sexuality are cultivated and become part of the groups’ social reality. Overall, this thesis uses theories on radicalization, subculture and interaction ritual in order to make the claim that the incels.co platform is hosting an extremist collectivist subculture that experiences radicalization through a collective entrainment around sacred objects. In doing so this thesis provides new dimensions to work on radicalization as it places an emphasis on shared and collective processes in the cultivation of radical and extremist beliefs.

Oslo: University of Oslo, 2020. 101p.

By Aleksandra Dier and Gretchen Baldwin

While only a small percentage of men become involved in violent extremism, the majority of violent extremists are men. Across the ideological spectrum, violent extremist and terrorist groups exploit male sentiments of emasculation and loss of power and appeal to ideas of manhood in their recruitment efforts. Yet policymakers rarely focus on gender to help them understand why some men engage in violence and others do not or what role peaceful notions of masculinity play in preventing radicalization and terrorism. Similarly, male-dominated counterterrorism institutions rarely pose the question of how masculinities shape these institutions and their approaches to counterterrorism and countering violent extremism (CVE).

This report discusses masculinities—the socially constructed ideas of what it means to be a man—as they are constructed and used by violent extremist groups, as they exist in and interact with society, and as they interplay with the state. It draws on examples pertaining to both “Islamist” and extreme right-wing terrorism, considering differences not just between but also within these ideologies.

New York: International Peace Institute and UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, 2022. 22p.

Edited by Leo Sher and Alexander Vilens

The Internet has become an integral part of the life of millions of people in the Western countries and in the developing world. Millions of people search for mental health information on the Internet, and there is a lot. Multiple web sites offer a plethora of information on different topics. Recent research suggests that Internet may play a role in suicide prevention. At the same time, there is an increasing concern that Internet may promote suicidal behaviour. Some authors call the Internet a double-edge tool. Internet providers try to seek a balance between preventing Internet-arranged suicides and safeguarding freedom of expression. The relationship between Internet and suicide is perplex. Understanding the impact of Internet on suicidal behaviour is an important challenge for future research.

Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2009. 452p.

By Steven Windisch

After noting a research gap in the study of the long-term development of extremist behavior, the current study relied on life-history interviews with 91 former white supremacists residing in North America, focusing on the developmental conditions associated with the onset of extremist views and behavior. The interviews focused on individual experiences, particularly how childhood risk factors (e.g., abuse and mental illness) and racist family socialization strategies contributed to emotional and cognitive susceptibilities toward extremist recruitment. Results indicate that early childhood trauma could be structured around two overlapping dimensions that include childhood maltreatment and family adversity. For these participants, the mood swings, inconsistencies, and unpredictable behavior by caregivers cultivated a high level of emotional distress during their formative years of development. Across the sample, participants were exposed to racist family socialization practices that aligned them, at least partially with far-right extremists; however, only a small portion of the sample were raised with immediate relatives who were involved in a white supremacist organization. Still, discourse and behavior had racial meaning by drawing on a sense of shared belonging within their racial/ethnic subgroups. These and other reported findings indicate how extremists have been influenced by a variety of internal and external factors that increase their attraction to a political ideology and extremist movement as part of a cascading process that seeks resolution through displays of individual and group power and ascendancy.

Omaha: University of Nebraska Omaha, 2019. 237p.

By Adam Smith.

Adam Smith didn’t just think about money and markets. He was also much taken with the moral sentiments of humans, what drove them to be human. This books shows that he saw much more to humans than simply “self interest” the one instinct that dominates his Wealth of Nations. This book in contrast is a pioneering essay on human psychology, good and bad.

Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. 1759.

By Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier

Allocating blame in the criminal justice process. “Like many commentators, we are perturbed by a trend to criminalise in the absence of compelling justification…this development is explained in part by a greater willingness to attribute blame for events, to demand that blame is imputed onto an individual or other legal actor, and that severe consequences should then follow. We employ the modern term blamestorming to describe the deliberate process of attribution. That ‘blamestorming’ is followed in the book’s title by blamemongers and scapegoats emphasises the fact that blamestorming is not a value-neutral exercise and that significant disparities in power are often involved.

University of Bristol. Policy Press. 2015. 203p.

By Kimberly Seida and Eran Shor.

Aggression in Pornography focusses on the issue of violence in mainstream pornography and examines what we know, what we think we know, and what are some surprising research findings and insights about the place of violence within pornography today. The authors first review the modern pornography industry, theoretical claims about pornography as violence, and the ways in which aggression has been defined and measured in previous research. Next, they review the findings of empirical research on violent content in pornographic materials and the potential effects of such content on audiences. The main part of the book relies on systematically collected empirical data, as the authors analyze the content of hundreds of pornographic videos as well as more than a hundred interviews with men and women who regularly watch pornography. These analyses provide surprising insights regarding the prevalence of and trends in violent content within mainstream pornography, the popularity of violent and non-violent content among viewers, and variations in aggression by race and sexual orientation. As such, Aggression in Pornography will be of interest to students and researchers in sociology, gender and sexuality studies, and media and film studies, as well as to wider audiences who are interested in today’s pornography industry and to policymakers looking to devise empirically driven policies regarding this industry and its potential effects.

London; New York: Routledge, 2021. 152p.