Revenge on the societal level: large groups, ideologies, and political systems

We are painfully aware and informed of the violence that exists in our own and others’ societies. However, we are perhaps not equally as aware of how often this violence con tains aspects of revenge. In Sweden and in other countries, we see gang showdowns in the underworld that seem to be pure and simple acts of revenge. In our presentation, we switch back and forth between individual and large group levels since they affect each other. We will see this, for example, in traumatized societies, where revenge is given a place as something unquestionable.