ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses violence as situation with Randall Collins’ research at the centre. I describe what I call “the situational challenge” in relation to more conventional and category-based approaches. I describe how come physical violence is demanding and difficult to perform, and how it can be organised and institutionalised in, for instance, the military. Collins’ view of violence myths is explained, as well as his conflict scale and the concept “forward panic”. I also relate the situational perspective to the low self-control explanation of violence, and I discuss Elijah Anderson’s research on “the code of the street”. Men’s intimate partner violence against women is also discussed and related to the theme of the chapter.
