RT Article
T1 Dissecting the Role of Dominance in Robberies: An Analysis and Implications for Microsociology of Violence
JF Journal of interpersonal violence
VO 36
IS 15/16
A1 Liebst, Lasse Suonperä
A1 Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz
A1 Bernasco, Wim
A2 Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz
A2 Bernasco, Wim
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1763011453
AB The influential microsociological theory of violence advanced by Randall Collins suggests that emotional dominance preconditions physical violence. Here, we examine robbery incidents as counterevidence of this proposition. Using 50 video clips of real-life commercial robberies recorded by surveillance cameras, we observed, coded, and analyzed the interpersonal behaviors of offenders and victims in microdetail. We found no support for Collins’s hypothesized link between dominance and violence, but evidence against it instead. It is the absence, not the presence, of emotional offender dominance that promotes offender violence. We consider these results in the light of criminological research on robbery violence and suggest that Collins’s strong situational stance would benefit from a greater appreciation of instrumental motivation and cold-headed premeditation.
K1 CCTV
K1 microsociology of violence
K1 Violence
K1 emotional dominance
K1 Robbery
DO 10.1177/0886260519845713