While the previous case study on Indonesia attempted to cover the participatory character of violence within the wide range of dynamics in an extremely violent society, this chapter examines in depth one set of motivations for popular participation in violence. Since I am focusing on the fate of a middlemen minority – a group considered ethnically different and among which is an important part of a country's economic elite – it makes sense to concentrate on economic factors. There was much to gain for people who turned against Ottoman Armenians.

In genocide studies, approaches related to the history of ideas and ideologies dominate. Most studies focus on racial thinking, the formation of nation-states and ethnic identities, and religious hatred. Where the role and actions of the state, interpreted as dictated by certain ideologies, are put in the center, economic contexts remain understudied as a purportedly secondary aspect of mass violence. Thus, some of the reasons for popular participation in extreme violence are understated, and, as a result, the active role of social groups itself.

The importance of robbery and social envy for the expulsion and murder of Ottoman Armenians has been repeatedly emphasized but not as yet comprehensively researched. Probably over half of the Armenians who perished in World War I died from starvation, exhaustion, or dehydration on foot marches or in designated banishment areas. This was because they had been deprived of their livelihood, their homes, and their assets.