ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an article by David Schwartz which shows what can be done when the traditional units of analysis do not hobble thought but are used to move it a few steps farther along the road to greater knowledge of why revolutions occur. The very conception of revolution as a process implies the notion of choice-points. To speak of structural violence as a social process is to emphasize the special responsibilities of those empowered to choose by societies and social groupings. The chapter provides a more comprehensive understanding of one form of political violence, revolution. Any such effort, it is said, may be expected to raise as many questions as it answers. The theory advanced in the chapter suggests that the process by which persons become alienated from a central government, become “available” for, and ultimately become predisposed toward, revolutionary behavior can be represented as a series of identifiable and predictable changes in cognitive patterns.
