ABSTRACT
Jean Baechler argued that amok must be ritualized by the culture. The culture must have a name for the phenomenon and specify the circumstances in which it is expected to occur. There must also be a typical way of running amok; that is, the sequence of behaviors and symptoms shown must be predictable. Dr. J. Arboleda-Florez suggested that amok would appear in societies undergoing rapid social change. Many of the mass murders which have taken place in America and in other nations do seem to have a standard pattern. Arboleda-Florez agreed that amok can be found in modern America. He too noted that many mass murderers fit into the definition of amok quite well. He thought that Charles Whitman, a mass murderer in 1966, was a classic case of amok, and examines this mass murderer based on an account written by Gary Lavergne.
