The purpose of this study was to access a research population of self-identified student perpetrators of ethnoviolence in order to learn more about their motivations, their perspectives of self and others, and their considerations for making moral decisions. The study design was quantitative and qualitative in nature and relied on both statistical analysis and ethnographic field study methods. The research procedures consisted of three basic phases: theoretical applications, perpetrator sample identification, and in-depth interview administration and analysis. A perpetrator screening survey was developed based on an Ethnoviolence Severity Scale Model and administered to a class size sample of 340 students of which 306 responded. Survey findings indicated a surprisingly high percentage of students (27.2%) admitted to committing ethnoviolent behaviors across the severity model. A significant number of students also admitted to both verbally (36.3%) and physically threatening (18.0%) others on the basis of race or ethnicity. In addition, 15.0% were physically involved in an actual hate fight and 6.0% injured someone over an issue of race or ethnicity. The survey also yielded several statistically significant relationships based on gender as well as Greek membership and the perpetration of both multiple and individual acts of ethnoviolence. Using a weight-based scoring system, 8 survey respondents were selected for in-depth interviewing (6 perpetrators and 2 non-perpetrators). Using two schemes for coding responses developed by Lyons (1983), the predominant Relational Component for self-definition among perpetrators was Separate/Objective (91.4%). As a group, perpetrators were 11 times more likely to use this mode, whereas, non-perpetrators were 18 times more likely to use the Connected one. These findings indicate that the majority of perpetrators see themselves as separate versus connected to others and view relationships as part of obligations or commitments with societal duty and principles to uphold. In addition, the perpetrator subjects were found to consistently use (greater than 80%) the Morality as Justice versus Care construct when considering moral problems. Across conflict types, perpetrators were 3.3 times more likely to use the moral ideological concepts of rights and fairness versus the concepts of situational response and interpersonal relationships in their considerations for making moral decisions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-1970 |
| Date | 01 January 2001 |
| Creators | Callahan, Jennifer Mia |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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