Understanding Angry Groups: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Their Motivations and Effects on Society

by Susan C. Cloninger (editor), Steven A. Leibo (Editor)

This book examines the dynamics that lead to anger in individuals, within groups, and between groups; identifies the role of the media in angry group behavior; and offers solutions for dealing with angry groups and channeling that negative energy in positive ways.

In today's society, we see angry groups in many forms—from animal rights and climate crisis activists to citizens opposed to allowing more immigrants of certain ethnicities or religions into the country, militia groups frustrated by acts of domestic terrorism and legislation that limits gun ownership and the ability to carry weapons in public, and those outraged by what they see as police brutality or the unnecessary use of deadly force against people of color.

More than just evidence of civil unrest in society, angry groups across history and nations often ultimately affect our politics and our government, for better or worse, and sometimes result in injury, bloodshed, or financial costs that hit otherwise-uninvolved taxpayers. This book demonstrates how people across our nation are involved in, affected by, or harmed by angry groups; covers historical and modern perspectives on angry groups; ands offers suggestions for predicting and influencing the expression of angry group behavior. It provides readers with an understanding of such conflicts and of their origins and dynamics that may offer insights to successful resolution, and it identifies strategies that can reduce the suffering that comes from such conflicts.

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2017

About the author

Dr. Susan C. Cloninger is Professor of Psychology at The Sage Colleges, where she has taught since 1979. She teaches on both the Troy and Albany campuses, and is Coordinator of the School of Professional and Continuing Education psychology program. Her courses include Introductory Psychology, Personality Theory, Social Psychology, Senior Seminar, and Great Ideas in Psychology. Before coming to Sage, Dr. Cloninger taught at the University of Maryland extension program in Germany; was a post-doctoral fellow in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley; and worked analyzing national survey research at the Social Action Research Center in San Rafael, California. She received her graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, specializing in personality, and her undergraduate degree in psychology from Valparaiso University in Indiana.

A former National Science Foundation fellow and National Merit scholar, Dr. Cloninger has published two textbooks in personality. "Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons" (published by Prentice Hall) is now in its fifth edition. It has been published in Portugese ("Teorias da Personalidade," translated by Claudia Berliner) by Martins Fontes, and also in Russian. "Personality: Description, Dynamics, and Development" (published by W. H. Freeman ) has also been published, by Flammarion, in French ("La Personnalite: Description, Dynamique, et Developpement," translated by Alice Tibi). On and off, as time permits, she is writing an introductory psychology textbook. Dr. Cloninger is a member of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.