Two independent research traditions have focused on social contributions to lynching. The sociological power threat hypothesis has argued that lynching atrocity will increase as a function of the relative number of African Americans. The psychological self-attention theory has argued that lynching atrocity will increase as a function of the relative number of mob members. Two series of analyses (one using newspaper reports and the second using photographic records) using different and nonoverlapping samples of lynching events rendered a consistent pattern of results: Lynch mob atrocity did not increase as a function of the relative numbers of African Americans in the county population but it did increase as a function of the relative numbers of mob members in the lynch mob. Discussion considers the implications of these results.
Abrams, D. (1994). Social self-regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 473-483.
2.
Abrams, D., & Hogg, M.A. (2001). Collective identity: Group membership, and self-conception . In M. B. Brewer & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Self and social identity (pp. 147-181). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
3.
Allen, J., Als, H., Lewis, J., & Litwack, L.F. (2000). Without sanctuary: Lynching photography in America . Sante Fe, NM: Twin Palms.
4.
Blalock, H.M. (1967). Toward a theory of minority group relations. New York: John Wiley.
5.
Blalock, H.M. (1989). Percent Black and lynchings revisited. Social Forces, 67, 631-633.
6.
Brundage, W.F. (1993). Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
7.
Caspary, W.R. (2005). The social construction of man, the state, and war: Identity, conflict, and violence in the former Jugoslavia. Political Psychology, 26, 157-159.
8.
Chamlin, M.B. (1989). Conflict theory and police killings. Deviant Behavior, 10, 353-368.
9.
Corzine, J., Creech, J., & Corzine, L. (1983). Black concentration and lynchings in the South: Testing Blalock's power-threat hypothesis. Social Forces, 61, 774-796.
10.
Corzine, J., Huff-Corzine, L., & Nelson, C. (1996). Rethinking lynching: Extralegal executions in postbellum Louisiana. Deviant Behavior, 17, 133-157.
11.
Creech, J.C., Corzine, J., & Huff-Corzine, L. (1989). Theory testing and lynching: Another look at the power threat hypothesis. Social Forces , 67, 626-630.
12.
Cutler, J.E. (1905). Lynch law: An investigation into the history of lynching in the United States. New York: Longmans, Green.
13.
Diener, E. (1980). Deindividuation: The absence of self-awareness and self-regulation in group members. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), Psychology of group influence. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
14.
Douglas, K.S., Lyon, D.R., & Ogloff, J.R.P. (1997). The impact of graphic photographic evidence on mock juror's decisions in a murder trial: Probative or prejudicial?Law and Human Behavior, 12, 485-501.
15.
Dray, P. (2002). At the hands of persons unknown: The lynching of Black America. New York: Random House.
16.
Dutton, D.G., Boyanowski, E.O., & Bond, M.H. (2005). Extreme mass homicide: From military massacre to genocide. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 10, 437-473.
17.
Earl, J., Martin, A., McCarthy, J.D., & Soule, S.A. (2004). The use of newspaper data in the study of collective action. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 65-80.
18.
Eitle, D., D'Alessio, S.J., & Stolzenberg, L. (2002). Racial threat and social control: A test of the political, economic and threat of Black crime hypothesis . Social Forces, 81, 557-576.
19.
Festinger, L., Pepitone, A., & Newcomb, T. (1952). Some consequences of deindividuation in a group . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 47, 382-389.
20.
Ginzburg, R. (1962). 100 years of lynching. New York: Lancer.
21.
Glover, J.R. (1989). Pearl Primus: Cross-cultural pioneer of American dance. Unpublished master's thesis, American University .
22.
Green, D.P., Glaser, J., & Rich, A. (1998). From lynching to gay bashing: The elusive connection between economic conditions and hate crime. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 82-92.
23.
Hogg, M.A., & Ridgeway, C.L. (2003). Social identity: Sociological and social psychological perspectives. Social Psychology Quarterly , 66, 97-100.
24.
Hovland, C.I., & Sears, R.R. (1940). Minor studies of aggression: VI. Correlation of lynchings with economic indices. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 9, 301-310.
25.
Israelis arrest bus “lynch mob.” (2006, June 13). BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/
26.
Jacob, P.F. (1942). A multidimensional classification of atrocity stories. In H. L. Childs & J. B. Whitten (Eds.), Propaganda by shortwave . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
27.
Kemp, S. (1984). Estimating the sizes of sports crowds. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 59, 723-729.
28.
Kennedy, D. (2006, February 13). World sees shocking images of British soldiers' brutality. Times Online. Retrieved from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
29.
Mann, L. (1974). Counting the crowd: Effects of editorial policy on estimates. Journalism Quarterly, 51, 278-285.
30.
McGuire, W.J. (1976). Historical comparisons: Testing psychological hypotheses with cross-era data. International Journal of Psychology , 11, 161-183.
31.
Mintz, A. (1946). A re-examination of correlations between lynchings and economic indices. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 41, 154-160.
32.
Mullen, B. (1983). Operationalizing the effect of the group on the individual: A self-attention perspective. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 295-322.
33.
Mullen, B. (1984). Participation in religious groups as a function of group composition: A self-attention perspective. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 509-518.
34.
Mullen, B. (1986). Atrocity as a function of lynch mob composition: A self-attention perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 187-197.
35.
Mullen, B., Chapman, J.G. & Peaugh, S. (1989). Focus of attention in groups: A self-attention perspective. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 807-817.
36.
Mullen, B., Johnson, D.A., & Drake, S.D. (1987). Organizational productivity as a function of group composition: A self-attention perspective. Journal of Social Psychology, 127, 143-150.
37.
Olzak, S. (1990). The political context of competition: Lynching and urban racial violence, 1882-1914. Social Forces, 69, 695-421.
38.
Olzak, S., & Shanahan, S. (2003). Racial policy and racial conflict in the urban United States, 1869-1924. Social Forces, 82, 481-517.
39.
Pereti, P.O., & Singletary, D. (1981). A theoretical-historical approach to Black lynching. Social Behavior and Personality , 9, 227-230.
40.
Perloff, R.M. (2000). The press and lynchings of African Americans. Journal of Black Studies, 30, 315-330.
41.
Phillips, C.D. (1986). Social structure and social control: Modeling the discriminatory execution of Blacks in Georgia and North Carolina 1925-1935 . Social Forces, 65, 458-475.
42.
Rebhun, U., & Waxman, C.I. (2003). The “Americanization” of Israel: A demographic, cultural and political evaluation. IsraelStudies , 5, 65-91.
43.
Reed, J.S. (1972). Percent Black and lynching: A test of Blalock's theory. Social Forces, 50, 356-360.
44.
Reed, J.S. (1989). Comment on Tolnay, Beck, and Massey. Social Forces, 67, 624-625.
45.
Reicher, S.D. (1987). Crowd behavior as social action. In J. C. Turner, M. A. Hogg , P. J. Oakes, S. D. Reicher, & M. S. Wetherell (Eds.), Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory (pp. 171-202). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
46.
Soule, S.A. (1992). Populism and Black lynching in Georgia, 1890-1900 . Social Forces, 71, 431-449.
47.
Stanko, E.A. (2004). Reviewing the evidence of hate: Lessons from a project under the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme. Criminal Justice, 4, 277-286.
48.
Stolberg, S.G. (2005, June 14). Senate issues apology over failure on antilynching law. The New York Times, 154(53245), A15.
49.
Thoits, P.A. (1995). Social psychology: The interplay between sociology and social psychology. Social Forces, 73, 1231-1243.
50.
Thompson, K.S., Clarke, A.S., & Dinitz, S. (1974). Reactions to My-Lai: A visual-verbal comparison . Sociology and Social Research, 58, 122-129.
51.
Tolnay, S.E., Beck, E.M., & Massey, J.L. (1989a). Black lynchings: The power threat hypothesis revisited. Social Forces, 67, 605-623. Tolnay, S.E., Beck, E.M., & Massey, J.L. (1989b). The power threat hypothesis and Black lynching: “Wither” the evidence?Social Forces, 67, 634-640.
52.
Tougas, F., De La Sablonniere, R., Lagace, M., & Kocum, L. (2003). Intrusiveness of minorities: Growing pains for the majority group?Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 283-298.
53.
Tuskegee Institute. (1979). Classroom: The Charles Chesnutt digital archive. Lynchings by state and race, 1882-1968. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from http://faculty.berea.edu/browners/chesnutt/classroom/lynchings_table_state.html
54.
Watson, R.I. (1973). Investigation into deindividuation using a cross-cultural survey technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 25, 342-345.
55.
Whalen , D.H., & Blanchard, F.A. (1982). Effects of photographic evidence on mock juror judgment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 12, 30-41.
56.
Women kill rape suspect in court. (2004, August 13). BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/
