The logistics of fear: violence and the stratifying power of emotion
This article contributes to growing sociological interest in theorising fear by providing cross-class evidence of what people do when they are afraid and how their emotion strategies matter for broader inequalities. Drawing on and extending pragmatist approaches to the study of emotion, I conceptualise the logistics of fear as the strategies that people employ to manage fear when prompted by a large-scale threat at the societal level. I argue that fear in such contexts can quickly exacerbate inequality by means of the unequal resources people draw on to solve or manage fear on a daily basis. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in the midst of a violent criminal war in urban Mexico, I trace the restructuring of metropolitan nightlife as a three-stage process: destruction, dispersion, and classed re-concentration. Attention to classed variations in emotion strategies over time provides evidence of the destructive and creative facets of fear, as well as of its stratifying power. More broadly, this research puts forth a pragmatist approach to the study of emotion that centres emotion as a problem and social process.
-
Aquino Moreschi, A. (2015) ‘Porque si llamas al miedo, el miedo te friega’: la ilegalización de los trabajadores migrantes y sus efectos en las subjetividades [‘If you summon the fear, the fear beats you’: The illegalization of migrant workers and its effect on their subjectivities], Estudios Fronterizos, 16(32): 75–98. doi: 10.21670/ref.2015.32.a03
-
Ariza, M. (coord.) (2016) Emociones, Afectos y Sociología: Diálogos Desde La Investigación Social y La Interdisciplina [Emotions, affects and sociology: dialogues from social and interdisciplinary research], Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales.
-
Ariza, M. (coord.) (2020) Las Emociones En La Vida Social: Miradas Sociológicas [Emotions in social life: sociological perspectives], Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales.
-
Ariza, M. (2021) The sociology of emotions in Latin America, Annual Review of Sociology, 47(1): 157–75. doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-021021-054653
-
Auyero, J. and Sobering, K. (2019) The Ambivalent State: Police-Criminal Collusion at the Urban Margins, New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Auyero, J., Bourgois, P. and Scheper-Hughes, N. (2015) Violence at the Urban Margins, New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Barbalet, J.M. (1998) Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Bauman, Z. (2006) Liquid Fear, Cambridge: Polity.
-
Baverstock, A., Dickinson, G., Griffin, B., Hallett, R. and Mishra, R. (2016) The Rough Guide to Mexico, London: Rough Guides.
-
Bude, H. (2018) Society of Fear, Cambridge: Polity.
-
Burawoy, M. (2003) Revisits: an outline of a theory of reflexive ethnography, American Sociological Review, 68(5): 645–79. doi: 10.2307/1519757
-
Burke, P.J. (1991) Identity processes and social stress, American Sociological Review, 56(6): 836–49. doi: 10.2307/2096259
-
Caldeira, T. (2000) City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
-
Calonge Riello, F. (2022) Estructuras del sentimiento de inseguridad: posiciones ante la violencia y estratificación social en México [Structures of insecurity feelings: stances on violence and social stratification in Mexico], Espiral Estudios Sobre Estado y Sociedad, 29(83): 149–86. doi: 10.32870/eees.v28i81.7226
-
Campos Garza, L. (2012) Monterrey muere de noche [Monterrey’s death by night], Proceso, 13 September.
-
Canales, M. (2013) Los jóvenes del norte perdieron la noche [Northern youth lost nightlife], SinEmbargo, 11 January.
-
Collins, R. (2004) Interaction Ritual Chains, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
-
Collins, R. (2007) Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
-
Correa-Cabrera, G. (2017) Los Zetas Inc: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
-
Dammert, L. and Malone, M. (2003) Fear of crime or fear of life? Public insecurities in Chile, Bulletin of Latin America Research, 22(1): 79–101. doi: 10.1111/1470-9856.00065
-
Desmond, M. (2014) Relational ethnography, Theory and Society, 43(5): 547–79. doi: 10.1007/s11186-014-9232-5
-
Durán-Martínez, A. (2018) The Politics of Drug Violence: Criminals, Cops and Politicians in Colombia and Mexico, New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Durin, S. (2019) Sálvese Quien Pueda! Violencia Generalizada y Desplazamiento Forzado en el Noreste de México [Run for you lives! Widespread Violence and Forced Displacement in Northeastern Mexico], Mexico City, MX: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.
-
Eckert, J. (2019) Gesellschaft in Angst? Zur Theoretisch-Empirischen Kritik Einer Populären Zeitdiagnose [Society in fear? On the theoretical-empirical critique of a popular social theory], Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
-
Elias, N. (2000) The Civilizing Process, Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
-
Elias, N. and Scotson, J. (1994) The Established and the Outsiders: A Sociological Enquiry into Community, London: Sage.
-
Emirbayer, M. (1997) Manifesto for a relational sociology, American Journal of Sociology, 103(2): 281–317. doi: 10.1086/231209
-
Flores Pérez, C.A. (2018) La Crisis de Seguridad y Violencia en México: Causas, Efectos y Dimensiones del Problema [The Violence and Security Crisis in Mexico: Causes, Consequences, and Parameters of the Problem], Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.
-
Furedi, F. (2006) Culture of Fear Revisited: Risk-Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation, London: Continuum.
-
Furedi, F. (2019) How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century, London: Bloomsbury Continuum.
-
Garza, G. (1999) La estructura socioespacial de Monterrey, 1970–1990 [The socio-spatial structure of Monterrey, 1970-1990], Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 14(3): 545–98.
-
Garza, L. (2011) Barrio Antiguo: una herida al corazón de Monterrey [Barrio Antiguo: A wound to the heart of Monterrey], Animal Político, 10 March.
-
Glassner, B. (2009) The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things, New York: Basic Books.
-
Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
-
González Arellano, S. and Villeneuve, P. (2007) Transformaciones en el espacio sociorresidencial de Monterrey, 1990–2000 [Transformations of socio-residential space of Monterrey, 1990-2000] Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 22(1): 143–78.
-
Goodwin, J. and Pfaff, S. (2001) Emotion work in high-risk social movements: managing fear in the US and East German civil rights movements, in J. Goodwin, J. Jasper, and F. Polleta (eds) Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp 282–302.
-
Gould, D. (2015) When your data make you cry, in H. Flam and J. Kleres (eds) Methods of Exploring Emotions, London: Routledge, 163–71.
-
Gravante, T. and Poma, A. (2019) Emociones, trauma cultural y movilización social: el movimiento por las víctimas de Ayotzinapa en México [Emotion, cultural trauma and mobilization: the Mexican solidarity movement toward Ayotzinapa victims], Perfiles Latinoamericanos, 27(53). doi: 10.18504/pl2753-007-2019
-
Gross, N. (2018) Pragmatism and the study of large-scale social phenomena, Theory and Society, 47(1): 87–111. doi: 10.1007/s11186-018-9307-9
-
Gross, N., Reed, I.A. and Winship, C. (2022) The New Pragmatist Sociology: Inquiry, Agency, and Democracy, New York: Columbia University Press.
-
Hale, C. (1996) Fear of crime: a review of the literature, International Review of Victimology, 4(2): 79–150. doi: 10.1177/026975809600400201
-
Hochschild, A. (1979) Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure, American Journal of Sociology, 85(3): 551–75. doi: 10.1086/227049
-
Hochschild, A. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
-
James, W. (1931) The Principles of Psychology, Vol II, New York: Henry Holt.
-
Jones, G.A. and Rodgers, D. (2019) Ethnographies and / of violence, Ethnography, 20(3): 297–319. doi: 10.1177/1466138119839088
-
Katz, J. (1999) How Emotions Work, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
-
Koury, M.G.P. (2017) A cidade de João Pessoa revisitada: cultura emotiva e sentimentos de medo na cidade [The city of João Pessoa revisited: emotive culture and feelings of fear in the city], Revista Brasileira de Sociologia Da Emoção, 16(47): 155–72.
-
Lee, M. (2001) The genesis of ‘fear of crime’, Theoretical Criminology, 5(4): 467–85. doi: 10.1177/1362480601005004004
-
Linthicum, K. and Hennessy-Fisky, M. (2021) With Mexico’s vaccination program lagging, wealthy Mexicans are flocking to the US, Los Angeles Times, 31 March.
-
Luna Zamora, R. (2005) Sociología Del Miedo. Un Estudio Sobre Las Ánimas, Diablos y Elementos Naturales [Sociology of fear: a study on souls, devils and natural elements], Guadalajara, Mexico: Universidad de Guadalajara.
-
McCall, G.J. and Simmons, J.L. (1966) Identities and Interactions, New York: Free Press.
-
Meckler, L. and Natanson, H. (2020) For parents who can afford it, a solution for fall: bring the teachers to them, The Washington Post, 17 July.
-
Mennell, S. (1990) Decivilizing processes: theoretical significance and some lines of research, International Sociology, 5(2): 205–23. doi: 10.1177/026858090005002006
-
Osorno, D.E. (2012) La Guerra de los Zetas: Viaje por la Frontera de la Necropolítica [The war of Los Zetas: journey across the border of necropolitics], Mexico City: Grijalbo.
-
Pain, R. (2000) Place, social relations and the fear of crime: a review, Progress in Human Geography, 24(3): 365–87. doi: 10.1191/030913200701540474
-
Prasad, M. (2021) Pragmatism as problem solving, Socius, 7: 1–13. doi: 10.1177/2378023121993991
-
Quealy, K. (2020) The richest neighborhoods emptied out most as coronavirus hit New York City, The New York Times, 15 May.
-
Ramírez Atilano, D. (2014) Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Nuevo León (FUNDENL): la acción colectiva en busca de las personas desaparecidas en Monterrey [United Forces for our Disappeared in Nuevo León (FUNDENL): collective action in the quest for the disappeared in Monterrey], Universidad de Monterrey.
-
Ramírez, D. (n.d.) Geografías afectivas en espacios de memoria: reflexiones sobre la plaza de los desaparecidos, Monterrey NL [Affective geographies in spaces of memory: reflections on the plaza for the disappeared in Monterrey, NL], in A. Délano Alonso, B. Nienass, A. de los Ríos Merino and M. de Vecchi Gerli (eds) Las Luchas por la Memoria en México [Struggles for Memory in Mexico].
-
Rebotier, J. (2011) Politicizing fear of crime and insecurity in Caracas, Emotion, Space and Society, 4(2): 104–12. doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2010.12.003
-
Reguillo, R. (2008) Sociabilidad, inseguridad y miedos: una trilogía para pensar la ciudad contemporánea [Sociability, insecurity and fears: a triad to think the contemporary city], Alteridades, 18(36): 63–74.
-
Rizzo, C. (2017) La nostalgia de la invulnerabilidad: violencia y cultura de paz en Nuevo León [The nostalgia of invulnerability: violence and peace culture in Nuevo León], in Violencia y Paz. Diagnósticos y Propuestas Para México, Mexico City: Colegio de México, Instituto Belisario Domínguez, CNDH, pp 427–54.
-
Rizzo, C. (2020) Modos de recordar que sanan: el derecho a la memoria y políticas de reparación del daño [Ways of remembering that heal: the right to memory and politics of reparations], in L.M. Sánchez Cardona and S.C.A. Paula (eds) Formas de Resistencia: Siete Experiencias de Escucha y Denuncia en las Prácticas Artísticas, Mexico City: UAM Lerma, Juan Pablos (editor), pp 25–42.
-
Rodgers, D. (2004) ‘Disembedding’ the city: crime, insecurity and spatial organization in Managua, Nicaragua, Environment and Urbanization, 16(2): 113–24.
-
Rosenberg, M. (1991) Self processes and emotional experience, in The Self-Society Dynamic: Cognition, Emotion and Action, J.A. Howard and P.L. Callero (eds) New York: Cambridge University Press, pp 123–42.
-
Rotker, S. (2002) Citizens of Fear: Urban Violence in Latin America, S. Rotker (ed) New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
-
Sabido Ramos, O. and Andrade, A.G. (2015) El amor como vínculo social: con elias y más allá de elias [Love as a social link: with and beyond Eias], Sociológica, 30(86): 31–63.
-
Sandoval, E. (2012) Economía de la fayuca y del narcotráfico en el noreste de México. extorsiones, contubernios y solidaridades en las economías transfronterizas [Fayuca economy and drug trafficking in northeastern Mexico. Extortion, collusion and solidarity in border economies], Desacatos, 38: 43–60.
-
Sandoval Hernández, E. (2018) Violentar La Vida En El Norte de México. Estado, Tráficos y Migraciones En La Frontera Con Texas [Violently disrupting life in northern Mexico. State, trafficking, and migrations in the Texan borderland], Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social Plaza y Valdés.
-
Saucedo Villegas, A.L (2017) Imaginarios Urbanos de La Violencia En El Espacio Público de Monterrey [Urban imaginaries of violence in Monterrey’s public space], Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
-
Scheff, T.J. (1994) Bloody Revenge: Emotions, Nationalism and War, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
-
Scheff, T.J. (2000) Shame and the social bond: a sociological theory, Sociological Theory, 18(1): 84–99. doi: 10.1111/0735-2751.00089
-
Scheff, T.J. (2004) Elias, Freud and Goffman: shame as the master emotion, in S. Loyal and S. Quilley (eds) The Sociology of Norbert Elias, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 229–42.
-
Scheff, T.J. and Retzinger, S.M. (1991) Emotions and Violence: Shame and Rage in Destructive Conflicts, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
-
Schmitz, A. (2019) Angstverhältnisse – Angstfunktionen: Angst im Kontext symbolischer Herrschaft und symbolischer Ordnung [Fear relations – fear functions: fear in the context of symbolic domination and symbolic order], in C. Lübke and J. Delhey (eds) Diagnose Angstgesellschaft? Was Wir Wirklich über die Gefühlslage der Menschen Wissen, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp 77–104.
-
Socorro Arzaluz Solano, M.del (2021) ¿Régimen urbano o gobernanza empresarial? Nuevo León en el Siglo XXI [Urban regime or corporate governance? Nuevo Leon in the 21st century], Polis, 17(1): 7–42. doi: 10.24275/uam/izt/dcsh/polis/2021v17n1/Arzaluz
-
Solís, P. and Ariza, M. (2000) Dinámica socioeconómica y segregación espacial en tres areas metropolitanas de México, 1990 y 2000 [Dynamics of social inequality and spatial segregation in three metropolitan areas in Mexico], Estudios Sociológicos, 27(79): 171–209.
-
Stanko, E.A. (2000) Victims R US: the life history of ‘fear of crime’ and the politicisation of violence, in T. Hope and R. Sparks (eds) Crime, Risk and Insecurity: Law and Order in Everyday Life and Political Discourse, London: Routledge.
-
Summers-Effler, E. (2002) The micro potential for social change: emotion, consciousness, and social movement formation, Sociological Theory, 20(1): 41–60. doi: 10.1111/1467-9558.00150
-
Tavory, I. (2016) Summoned: Identification and Religious Life in a Jewish Neighborhood, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
-
Thoits, P.A. (1990) Emotional deviance: research agendas, in Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, T. Kemper (ed) Albany, NY: State University NY Press, pp 180–203.
-
Thump Mexico (2016) Clubes caídos por el narco en Monterrey [Fallen clubs due to narcos], Vice Media, 24 November.
-
Tudor, A. (2003) A (macro) sociology of fear?, The Sociological Review, 51(2): 238–56. doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.00417
-
Turner, J. (2002) Face-to-Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
-
Turner, J.H. (2010) The stratification of emotions: some preliminary generalizations, Sociological Inquiry, 80(2): 168–99. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2010.00326.x
-
Turner, J.H. (2014) Emotions and societal stratification, in J.E. Stets and J. H. Turner (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, Vol II, Springer, pp 179–97.
-
Turner, J.H. (2015) Revolt From the Middle: Emotional Stratification and Change in Post-Industrial Societies, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
-
Turner, J.H. and Stets, J.E. (2006) Sociological theories of human emotions, Annual Review of Sociology, 32: 25–52. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123130
-
Villamizar-Santamaría, S. (2019) Gated communities / fortified enclaves, The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies.
-
Villarreal, A. (2015) Fear and spectacular drug violence in Monterrey, in Violence at the Urban Margins, J. Auyero, P. Bourgois, and N. Scheper-Hughes (eds) New York: Oxford University Press, pp 135–61.
-
Villarreal, A. (2021) Reconceptualizing urban violence from the global south, City and Community, 20(1): 48–58. doi: 10.1111/cico.12506
-
Wacquant, L. (2004) Decivilizing and demonizing: the remaking of the black American ghetto, in S. Loyal and S. Quilley (eds) The Sociology of Norbert Elias, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Zamorano, C. and Capron, G. (2013) Privatization of security and the production of space in Mexico city: challenges for urban planning, International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2(4): 59–74. doi: 10.4018/ijepr.2013100105
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 46 | 46 | 46 |
| Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| PDF Downloads | 9 | 9 | 9 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk