000			01618nam a2200193Ia 4500
999			_c64457 _d64457
005			20220115211811.0
008			200204s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9780195641394
082			_a303.62 PAR
100			_aParthasarathy, D.
245		0	_aCollective violence in a provincial city
260			_aDelhi
260			_bOxford University Press
260			_c1997
300			_a204 p. : ill.
520			_aThis book gives an entirely new focus to the concept of collective violence. Drawing on a vast body of sociological literature, Parthasarathy contests the view that violent behaviour is always spontaneous and irrational. On the contrary, he says, violent episodes are based on rational evaluation, and the author emphasizes their premeditated and selective nature. This translates into the intense caste rivalry that has become a pervasive feature of our small towns. In Vijayawada, the competition between the Kammas, Kapus, Komatis, Rajus, etc. has been marked by violence over the last four or five decades. Riots, arson, looting and swift reprisals for settling old scores have become increasingly common. The frequency with which the dominant classes have resorted to violence has legitimized its use, highlighting the relativistic dimension of the normative order of a city. Viewed in this way, violence in a provincial city is not so much a deviant act as an instrument of hegemonic assertion in different spheres of society. Parthasarathy carried out fieldwork in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, but the problem itself has a general relevance.
650			_aViolence
942			_cB _2ddc