Explain how a symbolic interactionist might approach the topic of military violence. Be sure to discuss the concepts of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization in your answer.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

What does symbolic interaction tell us about this more tragic side of social behavior? Several factors must come together for violence to be exercised on a horrific scale. Three in particular mark the passage from acceptance of others to violent killing (Fellman, 1998; Gamson, 1995; Kelman & Hamilton, 1989). Fortunately, the combination of these three is rare.
Under authorization, leaders define the situation so the individual is absolved of responsibility for making personal moral choices. People act badly because an authority has given them approval to do so. Hutu militia butchered Tutsi during the Rwanda genocide believing they had been given approval by their leaders. Those dropping an atomic bomb on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not have to think about the consequences because they were following orders from the president and the military chain of command. Japanese soldiers killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Nanjing because they believed they were authorized by the highest military officers.
Under routinization, actions become organized by well-established procedures so there is no opportunity for raising moral questions. Individuals act badly because they believe in a routine that determines how to behave; they no longer have to make deliberate decisions. For example, those running the Nazi death camps followed a closely prescribed procedure governing how many people were to be killed on each shift, how to send in the gas, how hot to make each oven, and how to dispose of the bodies.
Under dehumanization, attitudes reflect perceptions that the targets are less than human. People act badly because they see only objects, animals, or a vicious enemy, not human beings. For example, the terrible medical experiments the Japanese conducted against prisoners-of-war were carried out on what they called maruta, or wooden logs. The Nazi regime portrayed Jews as rats or other vermin. During the 1994 genocide, Hutu hate propaganda referred to Tutsis as inyenzi, or cockroaches.
In all these cases, the scale of enemy-making intensified. Leaders gave their approval; perpetrators were given instructions and mechanisms to follow; those killed no longer counted as human beings. All moral decision-making was suspended. The symbolic interaction perspective helps us understand how these meanings, no matter how heinous, can be acquired and, fortunately, how unusual they are.