Violent conflict and social organization. Some theoretical implications of the sociology of war

Samenvatting

War, far from being determined by human nature, is a cultural achievement. As human fighting induces fear, organized warfare is only possible if it provides means for overcoming that emotion. Fear of injury from the enemy is offset in three main ways: solidarity within the fighting group; discipline; and the knowledge that giving way to fear greatly enhances the risks of being slaughtered. Fear in battle may lead to disorganized retreat, but also to ‘forward panic’. Warfare must be understood as a battle of organizations, each of which attempts to bring about the organizational breakdown of the other one. Even if this breakdown does not occur, armies, like other big organizations, have a large component of ‘structured chaos’. It is concluded that morally-based, solidarity-generating social order does exist, but that its focus is on the micro level; the macro structure of large societies might be referred to as a kind of ‘normal disorder’.