Ideological Violence and Social Change in Canada and the United States from the 19th Century to Present Day

In recent years, Canada and the United States have revised national security and public safety priorities to address the domestic threat of extreme social violence that emerges from social, political, and religious views and beliefs that challenge the social order. An imminent threat, extreme ideological views, and movements can inspire like-minded individuals by promoting an idealized social order through enduring stereotypes that elevate their status, sometimes through violence. Developed using a pragmatic approach, this study addresses these views and movements when they devolve into violent acts. A socio-historical exploration, this study explores social change and Canadian and American historical elements from the 19th century to the present day, linking them with ideological and ideologically themed violence. In order to address the research question, does social change influence rates of ideological violence?, Norbert Elias’s civilizing theory and Cas Wouters’s seven social balances (Wouters, 2014) are employed to illustrate the social change of the time period. Further, it introduces the analytical concept of ideological themes, where causality cannot be immediately confirmed, to resolve recently formed definitions, such as mixed and composite ideologies. Laying the groundwork for future study areas, the findings propose an applied approach to developing social policies that foster social change that may curtail the destructive aspects of individual and group ideologies.

Author dc:creator

• Findlay, Valarie

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lacassagne, Aurélie

• College of interdisciplinary studies

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-20402

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28837