Having himself been shocked by seeing the extreme brutality of vigilante violence, sociologist Muhammad Asif decided to study why people take the law into their own hands. His work has resulted in a new theory of the causes of vigilante violence, which combines various explanatory factors, such as distrust of the state or the police, and strong emotional reactions to violations of moral values. Asif’s study took place in Pakistan, but his insights are also relevant to other cases of collective violence around the world. He will defend his doctoral thesis on Wednesday February 2 at the University of Amsterdam.

On August 15, 2010, two teenagers were brutally beaten by a group of people in the city of Sialkot in Pakistan. It appears the teens were suspected of robberies in a nearby neighborhood. After seeing footage of the incident, Asif decided to look into the phenomenon of vigilante violence: “I had never witnessed such brutality in my life. The scenes I saw were so intense that I was left in shock for days after the event. In his research, Asif moved from examining traditional causes of vigilante violence – such as weak state-level intervention and illegitimacy of the police – and developed a new theory of why people do justice themselves.

A new vigilante violence theory

Asif’s theory – the theory of self-defense rituals – goes beyond traditional ideas about this type of self-defense by incorporating both emotions as drivers of violence, such as anger or the desire for revenge, and the political encouragement of violence. “Even when people perceive the police as legitimate and effective, they may turn to vigilante violence,” Asif says. “People may feel strong emotions and may desire punitive action if they feel that moral values ​​they deem central to their group identity have been violated.” In addition, vigilante violence is often implemented under certain socio-legal conditions of legal illegitimacy, exposure to violence, and encouragement of violence by authorities, Asif adds. “These help organize the microsociological processes that underlie the rituals of vigilance that lead to violence and the punishment of the offender. Political leaders could induce and exploit emotions by triggering these rituals to create acts of collective violence.

Analysis of vigilante violence and lynching in Pakistan

Vigilante violence can begin with ordinary slaps and punches and then escalate into more intense extrajudicial punishment of the offender. When the alleged perpetrators are punished and killed through torture and mutilation, this is defined as lynching. Asif has specifically studied vigilante violence and lynching in Pakistan where they are often tied to emotions and values ​​around the avoidance of blasphemy.

Asif first empirically examined two hypotheses derived from his theory of self-defense rituals, namely that people would support self-defense violence when they experienced a lack of legitimacy from the police and the state and when they were angry because moral values ​​were deemed to have been violated. He found that people do indeed support vigilante violence when they perceive the police as illegitimate and corrupt or when they are easily angered. “Results revealed that people who are easily angered may prefer vigilante punishment over deferring to judicial authorities, even when the latter are present,” Asif explains. “These results support the theory that approaches to emotion and legitimacy are related to support for self-defense violence.”

Asif also attempted to discover whether vigilante violence is mobilized and channeled through self-defense rituals and whether its likelihood increases when authorities encourage such violence. Based on in-depth interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and government officials, as well as video footage and newspaper clippings, he analyzed how lynchings took place and were carried out. His analysis revealed that lynchings are orchestrated by self-defense rituals, through which crowds generate a sense of moral communion under the active encouragement of politico-religious “ritual engineers”. These engineers mobilize crowds by chanting slogans and singing songs to activate body alignment processes (participants synchronize their body movements). The vigilantes then proceed to the lynching of the alleged aggressor to restore the integrity of their moral values. “The goal of religious and political leaders in inciting mobs appears to be to control the community for political gain and to show their own ability to uphold the law,” Asif concludes.

Vigilante violence around the world

Although vigilante violence and lynching are more prevalent in some African and Asian countries, there are also cases in the Western world. Perhaps the best recent example is the crowd that stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, incited by former President Trump. Explanatory factors such as lack of state and police legitimacy, violation of moral values ​​and political encouragement also played a role in this incident. “This implies that self-defense violence in particular, and collective violence in general, must be seen as an interaction between micro-ritual processes and the macro conditions of political conflict,” says Asif.

Asif concludes that his new theory is more integrative and comprehensive than its predecessors, as it provides a broader and more inclusive understanding of vigilante violence and lynchings than previous sociological and criminological theories on the subject.

Warning: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of press releases posted on EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.