Sociology of War and Violence

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

SOC 30270 at UCD; In this module we will examine the complex relationships between war, violence and society. The aim is to explore the sociological aspects of traditional and modern forms of organised violence in a comparative geographical and historical perspective. The course is particularly focused on the theoretical and socio-historical interpretations that link war and organised violence with the development of modern industrial societies. More specifically, the emphasis is placed on the dramatic and radical changes in the relationship between war, organised violence and society over the last two centuries. The module examines the significance of war and violence as a source of social cohesion and conflict, their role in the formation of modernity and contemporary nation-states, their link with the nationalist ideologies and a number of more specific topics such as war propaganda and battlefield solidarity, war and social stratification, gendering of war, as well as the changing character of warfare and violence in the 21st century. (May not have taken ND's SOC 20541 because of content overlap.)