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From predators to providers: the role of violence and rules in establishing social control

Author(s)
Wright, Timothy Flynn
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Alternative title
Role of violence and rules in establishing social control
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science.
Advisor
Roger Petersen.
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MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
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Abstract
In the modern world, social order is most often maintained by states, using a complex web of institutions, norms, and systems to control the population and govern their actions. In this dissertation, I ask how groups establish and maintain social control absent these powerful structures. To answer this question, I propose a new theoretical construct, based on a foundation of social science and observation of the competition for social control that occurred in Baghdad, Iraq from 2006 to 2008. I identify and test what is both necessary and sufficient for a group to establish social control over a population under conditions approaching anarchy. I argue that to establish social control, a group must do three things. First, a group must possess specific latent capacities that enable them to credibly control violence. Second, groups must apply violence in purposeful ways, ascending a hierarchy of increasingly complex collective activities to establish social control. Finally, social control is achieved only when the group uses violence to provide a specific set of benefits that provide utility not only to the group, but also to the population it seeks to control. I define this step as adjudication. Implications and applications are discussed.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science, 2018.
 
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-267).
 
Date issued
2018
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118218
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Political Science.

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