Att slåss för erkännande : en studie i gatuvåldets dynamik

Sammanfattning: ABSTRACTThe aim of this thesis is to give a contribution to the knowledge of why people use violence against each other in public places. In more specific terms the thesis examines mechanisms that generates violent actions by reference to what happens in the situated transaction between the offender and the victim, and to the ways in which the urban environment create opportunities for violent actions. In the thesis I address some overall questions to mark of different dimensions of the studied phenomenon. The questions pay attention to: 1) the relation between the physical and social dimensions of the urban environment and the ways in which the urban environment creates opportunities for violent crimes; 2) why the offenders seek themselves to certain places and the symbolic meaning those places has, and; 3) what happens in the situated transactions between the offender and the victim.My methodological approach is multistrategic. The main components of the approach are qualitative interviews, studies of court orders, statistics and geographical studies. I interviewed respondents that have been punished for different crimes of violence committed in public places in the city centre of Örebro. The interviews were complemented with a case study of court orders over street related crimes of violence committed in the same area, and with a statistic and a geographical analyses over where, when and by whom the crimes were committed. The analyses of the ways in which the urban environment creates opportunities for violent crimes reveals some necessary conditions of physical, social and cultural character, i.e. properties of the urban environment that creates good opportunities for street related violence to occur. I started with a statistical examination of where, when and by whom different crimes of violence were committed. With the empirical regularities as a starting-point I began to analyse the urban environment with the help of Bill Hillier’s (1996) concept of virtual community. The analysis reveals that the city centre context of Örebro offer good opportunities for encounters and movements as it contains of several squares and main passages with an open character and good opportunities for orientation. Thus, the physical design of the city centre form a potential for violence to occur. After that I focused on border controls and the potential for violence they include. The importance of border controls were examined in several ways and it was concluded that the border controls contain different dimensions that contribute to the production of violent actions in different ways. This was followed by an examination of the use of the public spaces from the perspective of territoriality and the potential for violence that territories include. It was concluded that the city centre contains of several territories belonging to different categories, and that a distinction could be made between territories established on spontaneous grounds as well as territories established as a result of the activities that exists in a certain area. The analyses of the situated transactions reveal several mechanisms that contribute to the production of violent actions. The analyses started with a statistical examination of the offenders, the victims and the situations that results in violence. With this as a starting-point I began to examine the situated transactions with reference to what happens in the transactions. I found that different kinds of disturbances constitute the initial cause of the process in which an interaction exceeds to violence. Other important aspects that were revealed were the importance of respect and honour for the production of violence and that a distinction could be made between different kinds of violence depending on how the disturbances are interpreted and what it is directed towards. Furthermore, I examined the importance of emotions and social bonds for the production of violence as well as the ways in which different kinds of strategies of action find expression in the situated transactions in public places. Finally the situated transaction were examined from a ritualistic perspective were I found that different kinds of violations of the ritual objects as well as different dimensions of power and status are important for the understanding of the street related violence. Keywords: Street related violence, crimes of violence, urban environment, virtual community, border controls, territoriality, transactions, respect, honour, street etiquette, street wisdom, rituals, power, status, recognition, gangs, emotions, social bonds. Björn Johansson, Department of Social Sciences, Örebro University, se-701 82 Örebro, Sweden