{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/118218"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/118218","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"From predators to providers: the role of violence and rules in establishing social control","abstract":"In the modern world, social order is most often maintained by states, using a complex web of institutions, norms, and systems to control the population and govern their actions. In this dissertation, I ask how groups establish and maintain social control absent these powerful structures. To answer this question, I propose a new theoretical construct, based on a foundation of social science and observation of the competition for social control that occurred in Baghdad, Iraq from 2006 to 2008. I identify and test what is both necessary and sufficient for a group to establish social control over a population under conditions approaching anarchy. I argue that to establish social control, a group must do three things. First, a group must possess specific latent capacities that enable them to credibly control violence. Second, groups must apply violence in purposeful ways, ascending a hierarchy of increasingly complex collective activities to establish social control. Finally, social control is achieved only when the group uses violence to provide a specific set of benefits that provide utility not only to the group, but also to the population it seeks to control. I define this step as adjudication. Implications and applications are discussed.","abstract_html":"In the modern world, social order is most often maintained by states, using a complex web of institutions, norms, and systems to control the population and govern their actions. In this dissertation, I ask how groups establish and maintain social control absent these powerful structures. To answer this question, I propose a new theoretical construct, based on a foundation of social science and observation of the competition for social control that occurred in Baghdad, Iraq from 2006 to 2008. I identify and test what is both necessary and sufficient for a group to establish social control over a population under conditions approaching anarchy. I argue that to establish social control, a group must do three things. First, a group must possess specific latent capacities that enable them to credibly control violence. Second, groups must apply violence in purposeful ways, ascending a hierarchy of increasingly complex collective activities to establish social control. Finally, social control is achieved only when the group uses violence to provide a specific set of benefits that provide utility not only to the group, but also to the population it seeks to control. I define this step as adjudication. Implications and applications are discussed.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wright, Timothy Flynn"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Roger Petersen."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018","date_published":"2018","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:32Z","subjects":["Political Science."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. 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First, a group must possess specific latent capacities that enable them to credibly control violence. Second, groups must apply violence in purposeful ways, ascending a hierarchy of increasingly complex collective activities to establish social control. Finally, social control is achieved only when the group uses violence to provide a specific set of benefits that provide utility not only to the group, but also to the population it seeks to control. I define this step as adjudication. Implications and applications are discussed."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph. D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118218"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. 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