¹ “Violence” is defined as direct or indirect action applied to restrain, injure, or destroy persons or property.

² The role of violence in political organizations is vividly demonstrated by a recent event among a group of elks at the Bronx Zoo. A 4-year old bull elk, Teddy, had his magnificent antlers sawed off to one-inch stumps. He had reigned as undisputed boss of a herd of six cow elks and one younger bull. But the breeding season was on, and he was becoming “a bit of a martinet.” With his antlers off, he gets a new perspective on his authority and becomes a tolerable leader. A younger bull may try to take over as paramount leader of the herd, but if he does, the veterinarian will saw off his antlers, too. New York Times, September 26, 1962, p. 35 Google ScholarPubMed.

³ By “rational” here is meant: having a conceptual link to a given end, a logical or symbolic means-ends relationship which can be demonstrated to others or, if not demonstrable, is accepted by others (but not necessarily all) as proven.

⁴ Essentially, the perception by an individual of his relationship to others within a framework of hostility or cooperation is the subjective basis of “ideology,” using the term as Mannheim, Karl does in “Sociology of Knowledge,” Ideology and Utopia (New York, 1957), pp. 265–66Google Scholar.

⁵ See Frankel, E., “One Thousand Murderers,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29 (1938–1939), pp. 687–88Google Scholar, cited in Clinard, Marshall B., Sociology of Deviant Behavior (New York, 1957), p. 216 Google Scholar.

⁶ The distinction between “violence” and “force” (one uncontrolled, the other controlled), was common in pre-Lasswellian literature. They are often difficult to distinguish objectively. Assessments of controllability may be almost entirely ideological. I prefer to use “force” to designate the objective capabilities, i.e., the concrete means or instruments for violence.

⁷ There are many areas outside the effective—if not the nominal—jurisdiction of formal governmental authority, as, for example, “off-limit” slum areas where police seldom penetrate, or the Mafia areas of Sicily. Such areas represent political sub-systems which possess a high degree of sovereignty, tolerated, for one reason or another, by the general government. Within such areas, the de facto authority is often the elite able to maintain the highest threshold of potential violence, not the formal government. In such areas, an unwritten law usually makes it a severely punished offense to call upon the authority of the general government.

⁸ The recent violence at Oxford, Mississippi, involving the registration of Negro James Meredith at the State University, is likely to expedite Negro integration throughout the South. By precipitating violence (which resulted in two deaths), the White Extremists may have strengthened the ranks of the Moderates. Fearing a recurrence, white leadership in future situations may be more concerned with controlling the firebrands than in using them to force concessions from the Justice Department. Gunnar Myrdal put his finger on this when he referred to the “positive” aspect of the riots. “The riots make people think,” he declared. New York Times, October 4, 1962, p. 10 Google ScholarPubMed.

⁹ See summary of some pertinent research: Henry, Andrew F. and Short, James F. Jr., Suicide and Homicide (Glencoe, Illinois, 1954), pp. 69–81 Google Scholar.

¹⁰ According to numerous press reports, the suicide of Marilyn Monroe led within a few days to a flurry of suicides by women. In the same manner, it may also have led to many decisions to live, which were not recorded.