Caring collectives and other forms of bystander helping behavior in violent situations

Charlotte Bloch; Lasse Suonperä Liebst; Poul Poder; Jasmin  Maria Christiansen; Marie Bruvik Heinskou

doi:10.1177/0011392118776365

Caring collectives and other forms of bystander helping behavior in violent situations

Charlotte Bloch, Lasse Suonperä Liebst, Poul Poder, Jasmin Maria Christiansen, Marie Bruvik Heinskou

5 Citations (Scopus)

67 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Social science research has traditionally described bystanders in violent emergencies as being passive. Recent evidence, however, stresses that bystanders typically intervene proactively and successfully in violent, dangerous emergencies. This article examines the multiple ways bystanders act in situations of violence, with the aim of moving beyond the understanding of bystanders as being either passive or active. Based on a qualitative analysis of surveillance camera recordings of urban public assaults, the study maps different types of bystander behaviors as they unfold in real-life violent events. The first part of the analysis is summarized in a typology that covers three types of bystander action: distancing, ambivalence, and involvement. The second part shows that the involvement action also unfolds through coordinated interactions between the bystanders, what the article characterizes as a ‘caring collective.’ This interactional aspect of bystander involvement has rarely been examined in the bystander literature, which tends to focus on individual bystander actions and motivations.

Original language	English
Journal	Current Sociology
Volume	66
Issue number	7
Pages (from-to)	1049-1069
ISSN	0011-3921
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392118776365
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2018

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/0011392118776365Licence: CC BY

Bloch et al. post-print versionAccepted author manuscript, 558 KBLicence: Other

Cite this

@article{323f1472d5aa4fc385eb79daeeca9f1d,

title = "Caring collectives and other forms of bystander helping behavior in violent situations",

abstract = "Social science research has traditionally described bystanders in violent emergencies as being passive. Recent evidence, however, stresses that bystanders typically intervene proactively and successfully in violent, dangerous emergencies. This article examines the multiple ways bystanders act in situations of violence, with the aim of moving beyond the understanding of bystanders as being either passive or active. Based on a qualitative analysis of surveillance camera recordings of urban public assaults, the study maps different types of bystander behaviors as they unfold in real-life violent events. The first part of the analysis is summarized in a typology that covers three types of bystander action: distancing, ambivalence, and involvement. The second part shows that the involvement action also unfolds through coordinated interactions between the bystanders, what the article characterizes as a {\textquoteleft}caring collective.{\textquoteright} This interactional aspect of bystander involvement has rarely been examined in the bystander literature, which tends to focus on individual bystander actions and motivations.",

author = "Charlotte Bloch and Liebst, {Lasse Suonper{\"a}} and Poul Poder and {Maria Christiansen}, Jasmin and Heinskou, {Marie Bruvik}",

year = "2018",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/0011392118776365",

language = "English",

volume = "66",

pages = "1049--1069",

journal = "Current Sociology",

issn = "0011-3921",

publisher = "SAGE Publications",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Caring collectives and other forms of bystander helping behavior in violent situations

AU - Bloch, Charlotte

AU - Liebst, Lasse Suonperä

AU - Poder, Poul

AU - Maria Christiansen, Jasmin

AU - Heinskou, Marie Bruvik

PY - 2018/11/1

Y1 - 2018/11/1

N2 - Social science research has traditionally described bystanders in violent emergencies as being passive. Recent evidence, however, stresses that bystanders typically intervene proactively and successfully in violent, dangerous emergencies. This article examines the multiple ways bystanders act in situations of violence, with the aim of moving beyond the understanding of bystanders as being either passive or active. Based on a qualitative analysis of surveillance camera recordings of urban public assaults, the study maps different types of bystander behaviors as they unfold in real-life violent events. The first part of the analysis is summarized in a typology that covers three types of bystander action: distancing, ambivalence, and involvement. The second part shows that the involvement action also unfolds through coordinated interactions between the bystanders, what the article characterizes as a ‘caring collective.’ This interactional aspect of bystander involvement has rarely been examined in the bystander literature, which tends to focus on individual bystander actions and motivations.

AB - Social science research has traditionally described bystanders in violent emergencies as being passive. Recent evidence, however, stresses that bystanders typically intervene proactively and successfully in violent, dangerous emergencies. This article examines the multiple ways bystanders act in situations of violence, with the aim of moving beyond the understanding of bystanders as being either passive or active. Based on a qualitative analysis of surveillance camera recordings of urban public assaults, the study maps different types of bystander behaviors as they unfold in real-life violent events. The first part of the analysis is summarized in a typology that covers three types of bystander action: distancing, ambivalence, and involvement. The second part shows that the involvement action also unfolds through coordinated interactions between the bystanders, what the article characterizes as a ‘caring collective.’ This interactional aspect of bystander involvement has rarely been examined in the bystander literature, which tends to focus on individual bystander actions and motivations.

U2 - 10.1177/0011392118776365

DO - 10.1177/0011392118776365

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0011-3921

VL - 66

SP - 1049

EP - 1069

JO - Current Sociology

JF - Current Sociology

IS - 7

ER -

Caring collectives and other forms of bystander helping behavior in violent situations

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this