Lydia Eckstein Jackson

Moral Disengagement

How media use can affect the support of war

161 Seiten, broschiert, VDM Verlag Saarbrücken, 2006.
ISBN 978-3-86550-978-9

We live in a world of war and conflict. The events of September 11th 2001 illostrated this ever more clearly, marking the beginning of a new era of violence and counter violence. The newly found "War on Terror" became the primary justification for any number of violent ans military actions. What enables people to support these violent actions? Do the media help to escalate conflicts? Do they have an impact on the way we think about war?
Based on Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, Lydia E. Jackson provides an overview of the concept of moral disengagement a one possible approach to answering these questions. The author describes the development of a tool to measure moal disengagement as well as a study of German college students that explored whether media use might be related to moral disengagemnent and, ultimately, to the support of war.
This book will be useful for students and researchers in disciplines such as Psychology, Sociology, Media Studies, International and Peace Studies, as well as journalists and those interested in the mechanisms that allow every-day people to support the destructiveness and inhumanity of war.