Dissecting the Role of Dominance in Robberies: An Analysis and Implications for Micro-Sociology of Violence

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dissecting the Role of Dominance in Robberies

T2 - An Analysis and Implications for Micro-Sociology of Violence

AU - Liebst, Lasse Suonperä

AU - Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz

AU - Bernasco, Wim

PY - 2021/8

Y1 - 2021/8

N2 - 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.

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.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0886-2605

JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

ER -