possible explanation, which is yet to be tested empiri-cally, is that a key element in membership of para-military groups may be the development of a moralityof loyalty which in turn is related to the developmentof a relevant situated social identity.This is obviously a very difficult to area in which toget hard evidence. The existing evidence thereforecomes from atypical group members, is largely an-ecdotal, and has mostly been gathered by journalistsrather than social scientists. It could be argued,however, that scholars could make more use of theseas primary sources. Probably the only thing we canclaim to have any firm evidence on is that children andyoung people who join nationalist
\
separatist guerrillamovements are not psychopaths and come from noparticular social strata of society. Other hypothesesincluding ideas of ‘terrorist personality types’ orpsychodynamic explanations will always be very hardto substantiate.
6. Children and Peace
Oneoftheproblems,ithasbeensuggested,inbringingpeace to societies that have experienced politicalviolence is that the next generation will have eitherbegun to believe that there is no future, or that theywill be able to think of the future only in negativeterms.Given that we know little about the way in whichchildren develop concepts of peace and war it could bearguedthatitisprematuretotrytoeducatechildrentobepeacemakers(see
PeacePromotion,Psychologyof
).Despite this lack of basic knowledge this process hasalready begun in some societies and some peopleapparently believe it is effective. However, there isvirtually no empirical evidence to substantiate theirclaim. A major problem would appear to be that toomuch of what passes for peace education focuses oninterpersonal conflict as opposed to intergroup con-flict. In future, curriculum designers need to produce amore effective peace education program and also toovercome the problem that peace education
per se
isnot always politically acceptable.It could also be argued that school-based peaceeducation is always bound to be ineffective because ittargets the wrong people in the wrong setting. Forexample, there is speculation, if not evidence, thatchildren’s ideas about peace and war may be moreinfluenced by what they learn from their parents thanfrom their schools. There is definitely evidence, whichis nowoften forgotten,thatlearningabout such thingsaspeace and war involvesemotions primarily and thatproviding facts may not alter these emotions. This isobviously an area which is in need of much moreresearch which develops what is known and makes itamenable for use in applied settings.The alternative to peace education which is mostoften advocated is bringing children together fromopposing groups in order to foster positive intergroupattitudes—the contact hypothesis. This has been awell-researched area for many years and now boastsan extensive literature. What this literature indicates isthat for contact to be even minimally effective it has totake place under highly prescribed conditions. How-ever, what advocates of the contact hypothesis appearto be reluctant to accept is that while there is evidencethat bringing groups together promotes interpersonalcontact satisfactorily, it does not necessarily promoteintergroup contact.There is also good evidence that intergroup conflictcan be reduced by manipulating the process of socialcategorizationinordertoaltergroupboundaries.Thisis a strategy that both social scientists and policymakers should consider more often. The evidence alsosuggestsitisnotpossibletobringsocialcategorizationto an end entirely. Rather it is better to concentrate onaltering the content of stereotypes or manipulatingwho gets put in which social category by alteringintergroup boundaries.
See also
: Coping across the Lifespan; Disasters,Coping with; Stress and Coping Theories; Violenceand Effects on Children
Bibliography
CairnsE1996
ChildrenandPoliticalViolence
.Blackwell,Oxford,UKDawes A, Donald D 1994
Childhood and Ad
ersity: Psycho-logical Perspecti
es from South African Research
. DavidPhilip, Cape TownFreud A, Burlingham D T 1943
War and Children
. Medical WarBooks, New YorkGarbarino J, Kostelny K, Dubrow N 1991
No Place to be aChild
. Jossey-Bass, San FranciscoLeavitt L, Fox N 1993
The Psychological Effects of War and Violence on Children
. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJMachel G 1996
Impact of Armed Conflict on Children
. UnitedNations Children’s Fund and United Nations Department of Public Information, New YorkRaviv A, Oppenheimer L, Bar-Tal D 1999
How ChildrenUnderstand War and Peace
. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
E. Cairns
War, Sociology of
The sociology of war is a central topic in both politicaland historical sociology, since war is one of the mostimportantpoliciesstatescanpursue,andtheoutcomesof wars have often shaped both the formation and thedissolution of states. The literature on war is thusconcerned with both its causes and its consequences.Studies of the causes of war can be divided intothree broad categories. The first type takes the systemas a whole as the unit of analysis and focuses on how16363
War, Sociology of
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