Complying with Genocide: The Wolf You Feed

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Drawing on a powerful Native American metaphor to frame this work, E.N. Anderson and Barbara Anderson examine complicity in genocide, stressing that it only through feeding the good wolf that a moral and social order of inclusion and tolerance can be built, while feeding the bad wolf will result in fear, hatred, exclusion, and violence. In Complying with Genocide: The Wolf You Feed, Anderson and Anderson illustrate how everyday frustration and fear, combined with hatred and social othering toward rivals and victims of discrimination, can lead individuals and whole nations to become complicit in genocide. Anderson and Anderson propose powerful actions that can both protect against complicity and create social change, as exemplified from populations recovering from genocidal regimes. This book is recommended for students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, public health, psychology, criminal justice, and political science.

Reviews

Scholars E. N. Anderson and Barbara Anderson explore the concepts of complicity in genocide and the nature of evil. They tackle average people's motivation to participate in mass killing and how they justify these actions. Social pressure, fear, and uncertainty coupled with charismatic leadership can persuade a disenfranchised, angry populace to be complacent or even cooperate with genocide. Average citizens turn toward evil when they accept that a minority does not deserve the same consideration and respect as they themselves do. As Paul Farmer has said, "the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong in the world." To counter this, the authors propose a stronger emphasis on moral aspects of society, such as equality, empathy, respect, and dedication to peaceful conflict resolution. Individuals should resist social aggression, bullying, and blaming, allowing positive social influences to counter genocidal thinking. As they contend, whether genocide continues or ends depends on how society approaches its problemswhether society employs fear, hatred, and violence or peace, love, and tolerancedemonstrating "the wolf you feed" metaphor. An important work in understanding the sociological underpinning of genocide complicity. Highly recommended.

Complying with Genocide: The Wolf You Feed provides practical ideas for formulating strategies to help such communities rebuild their lives and find common ground among their disparate and competing groups. Readers will appreciate the careful research and abundant references to other genocide research listed throughout the book.

Author Bio

E.N. Anderson is professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside.

Barbara A. Anderson is professor emerita at Frontier Nursing University.