Male Violence

Most human violence is carried out by men, yet a book which highlights this by being called Male Violence' is very different from one simply entitled Human Violence'. The contributors to Male Violence' take as their starting point not the generality of aggression in the human species, but the predominantly male nature of most acts of violence. Male Violence is clearly a problem in the modern world, and may even be the major source of human suffering. It is, however, intractable, as it is deep-rooted in biology and culture, and is supported by male vested interests of many kinds. The book contains accessible contributions from a wide range of psychologists who have studied the many faces of male violence: in childhood and adulthood; on the street and in the home; towards men, women and children; and in its sexual and non-sexual forms. These varied topics, together with an emphasis on naturalistic rather than laboratory-based investigations, distinguish these researchers from those aiming to make generalizations about human aggression without considering issues of sex and gender. In later chapters a variety of theoretical frameworks are brought to bear on this subject. Emphasis on male violence leads one to consider, on one hand, the consequences of natural selection for the two sexes, and on the other the gendered nature of the cultures in which we live. In line with current evolutionary thinking, the contributors emphasize the complementary nature of these two approaches. John Archer is Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire. He is the author of Ethology and Human Development and The Behavioural Biology of Aggression , and co-author (with Barbara Lloyd) of Sex and Gender . He also co-edited (with Kevin Browne) Human Aggression: Nauralistic Approaches (Routledge 1989).