| Religion, Society, and World Relations, Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences, Research

On the causes of school massacres

In 2020, guns were the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the USA. A particularly drastic form of gun violence against adolescents is school massacres such as the one last week in a primary school in Texas, in which 19 children died alone. Anne Nassauer, Professor of Sociology, especially Political Sociology at the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences at the University of Erfurt, has been researching rampage killings at US schools for several years.

In doing so, she compares the most diverse aspects of US society that come into question as causes for these acts – including psychological factors such as mental illness, social factors such as bullying and legal framework conditions such as easy access to weapons. On our research blog "WortMelder" she gives an insight into the lives of the perpetrators and their attempts to find a place in society.

blogpost "Nachgefragt: 'Welche soziologischen und sozio-politischen Faktoren begünstigen Schulmassaker in den USA, Frau Prof. Nassauer?'" (in German)

By the way: Anne Nassauer's article "School Shootings - The Social Dynamics of Mental Disorder" will soon be published in the Research Handbook on Society and Mental Health.

 

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