Abstract

CELIS, Jorge. 'The Age of School Shootings': A Sociological Interpretation on Masculinity. Rev. Actual. Investig. Educ [online]. 2015, vol.15, n.1, pp.520-541. ISSN 1409-4703.

Over the past two decades there has been a growing interest in the study of the horrendous massacres perpetrated by students at school premises. These massacres, known as school shootings, haven been predominantly analyzed by employing psychological approaches. Despite the fact that empirical research clearly reveals that school shooters tend not to present life-long histories of mental illness, these approaches usually put a strong emphasis on the perpetrator's individual pathologies, ignoring the influence that social values such as masculinity exert on perpetrators' actions. Consequently, perpetrators are viewed as lone wolf shooters and school shootings as isolated cases. Based on data derived from scholarly works published mainly in peer-review journals and the sociological theory of P. Berger and T. Luckmann, the aim of this essay is to offer a sociological interpretation on school shootings by explaining why school shooters commit violent actions against teachers and classmates as a form of retrieving their masculinity. In this regard, the essay finds that male rather than female students commit school shootings. At the same time, the majority of perpetrators have had parents who were gun collectors. It is no coincide that shooters mostly use family guns to commit the massacres. Additionally, shooters see school as a social entity that has diminished their masculinity, and the way to reaffirm their masculinity is to attack randomly students and teachers in full view of the rest of school members during school hours.

Keywords : school shootings; masculinity; socialization; school.

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