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11

2010

Book Fact Friday – Are Fights Contagious?

by Leslie Nangle | Filed in: Book Fact Friday - Sociology - Twitter | 2:13pm EST

Are fights really contagious? If one person punches another in a crowded bar, will the situation evolve until everyone is hitting everyone around them? According to Randall Collins, this is a particularly silly myth. In fact, the typical response of bystanders when a fight breaks out in a crowded place is to back away to a safe distance and watch, or react with unease and horror. Read Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory by Randall Collins to learn more about how violence really happens. Chapter one online.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 2:13 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 discussion feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response

On June 13th, 2010 at 4:48 pm Jim Gagan replied:

Something I’ve never really thought about, but yeah, in movies it seems like one guy throws a punch and in seconds everyone’s fists are flying. I’ve only witnessed a couple of real fights myself, and people in the immediate vicinity just seem to stand glued to the spot rather than join in.

Thanks for sharing!

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