Legitimating war by victimization: state-corporate crime and public opinion

This article argues that the ideological use of victimization helps legitimate the state-corporate crime of aggressive war. This contributes to the emerging criminology of war by offering a theoretical framework to better understand how state and corporate actors legitimate criminal military action....

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Klein, Josh (Author) ; Lavery, Cathy (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2011
In: Crime, law and social change
Year: 2011, Volume: 56, Issue: 3, Pages: 301-317
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Media Content
Moral Panic
Personal Worry
Public Opinion
Victimization Worry
Description
Summary:This article argues that the ideological use of victimization helps legitimate the state-corporate crime of aggressive war. This contributes to the emerging criminology of war by offering a theoretical framework to better understand how state and corporate actors legitimate criminal military action. We argue that politicians and other elite figures promote a sense of national victimization that is amplified by the news media. We partially test our theory by measuring the association between the incidence of terror victimization ideas in the news and public support for the U.S. "war on terror." We find some evidence of relationships between our Terrorism Victimization Index and both victimization worry and aggressive war support.
Item Description:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 315-317
Physical Description:Illustrationen
ISSN:1573-0751
DOI:10.1007/s10611-011-9323-4