Violence Rewired
Evidence and Strategies for Public Health Action

Offers an alternative picture of the causes of human violence, showing strategies for change through concerted societal action.

Richard Whittington (Author), James McGuire (Author), Maria Fernanda Tourinho Peres (Foreword by)

9781107018075, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 April 2020

316 pages, 3 b/w illus. 7 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'It is a pleasure to welcome this book, which describes public health approaches to understanding and preventing violence. It includes wide-ranging reviews of biological, psychological and social factors, risk assessment instruments, and different types of interventions. This book will be of great interest to biologists, psychologists, social scientists, and anyone who is interested in understanding and preventing violence.' David P. Farrington, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology, University of Cambridge

This thought-provoking book draws together research from genetics, anthropology, psychology and the social sciences to show that widespread assumptions about the inevitability of human violence are almost entirely a collection of myths. While violence has been a recurring feature of human life, there is no reason to suppose that it is inherent in 'human nature'. On the contrary, patterns of aggressive behaviour are largely learned through experience and even those individuals who have often acted violently can learn to change. Rejecting the speculations of much contemporary writing about human aggression, Violence Rewired presents an evidence-based alternative: a multi-level model of action to reduce violence at both individual and collective levels, linked to public health initiatives developed by the World Health Organization. If humanity is to survive the challenges it faces, a more realistic appraisal of ourselves and our basic tendencies is an indispensable part of the solution.

Foreword. Between chimpanzees and bonobos: the challenge of violence prevention
Part I. Origins: 1. The prospect of human violence: pessimism or realism?
2. The roots of human violence: in search of the 'hard wired'
3. The biology of violence: possibilities and limitations
4. Developmental factors in violence propensity: the learning of violence
5. Structural violence: social and political factors in understanding violence
Part II. Solutions: 6. Advancing a global public health response to violence
7. Risk assessment: can violence be predicted?
8. Pharmaceutical interventions: medication, violence and the public health
9. Psychosocial interventions: the unlearning of violence
10. Changing structures: integrated interventions for violence
Conclusion
Appendix. Major UN initiatives to address violence 1986–2018.

Subject Areas: Public health & safety law [LNTJ], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Violence in society [JFFE]