Deciphering violence : the cognitive structure of right and wrong /

Using analysis of photographs, news reports, paintings, films, advertisements, comic strips, and news accounts of various subjects in conjunction with findings from lengthy conversations with journalists and the reactions of focus groups, Cerulo tests a thesis based on "sequence, the silent narrator" and its largely unconscious function as both message and messenger. Moreover, she makes her case in a concise, provocative, jargon-free argument. Cerulo moves beyond the semioticians' freeze frames into the dynamic interplay of elements. She raises questions about how people read artifacts and the moral evaluation provoked by the sequence of narrative--that is, who/what comes first in the narrative (the victim, the act, the performer, the context) and whether the narrative "doublecasts" an individual or group as both perpetrator and victim. She correlates or contrasts these "identity qualifiers" to the societal characterizations that place the "facts" described in one of three sets: deviant, normal, or ambiguous violence. Cerulo hopes that "attention to story sequencing may diminish the number of acts now typically evaluated as acceptable or justifiable" and spark "a new commitment to a sociology of communication and cognition." In addition to academic readers ranging from upper-division undergraduates through faculty, the audience for this book will include television professionals, parents, religious leaders, lawyers, and designers of video games. Excellent bibliography. M. J. Miller; Brock University