The Secret Society of Torturers: The Social Shaping of Extremely Violent Behaviour

Abstract: How do normal people become able to torture others? In order to explain this puzzling social phenomenon, we have to take secrecy – the characteristic trait of modern torture – as the lynchpin of the analysis. Following Georg Simmel’s formal analysis of the “secret society”, the contribution reconstructs structural and cultural aspects of the secret society of torturers that generate social processes that allow its members to behave extremely violently, forcing individuals to turn into torturers. The contribution argues that the form of social behaviour that we call torture is socially shaped. It goes beyond social psychology to develop an explanation from the perspective of relational sociology. https://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/3071

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: The Secret Society of Torturers: The Social Shaping of Extremely Violent Behaviour ; volume:9 ; number:1 ; day:04 ; month:04 ; year:2016 ; International journal of conflict and violence ; 9, Heft 1 (04.04.2016)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Jürgen Mackert

Further information

• DOI: 10.4119/ijcv-3071
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2020062211042756701412
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:47 AM CEST