Abstract
This chapter examines the mass killer’s fractured self-concept. The emergence of a mass killer involves the interplay of psychological and sociological factors. By examining the personal histories of many multiple murderers, a common theme of severe psychological and social developmental interruption emerges. Derailed identity-formation and psychosocial development is a characteristic shared by all of the killers in this study. I contend that certain pre-dispositional factors result in the killer having a pathologically fragmented identity, which is the catalyst for fantasy progression. As a result of such impediment, the killer becomes consumed with one or more fantasy themes, which ultimately underlie his crimes. Fantasies may include imagined reactions of peers, or the general public’s reaction and imagined media attention. These fantasies commonly portray a transcendent image, which resolves, transforms or otherwise alters the meaning of the mass killing. These fantasy themes are an impetus for homicide. The analytical importance of these fantasies points to a transcendent fantasy theory of mass killing.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Altheide, D. (2004) “Consuming Terrorism”, Symbolic Interaction, 27 (3), 289–308.
Altheide, D. (2009) “The Columbine Shootings and the Discourse of Fear”, American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1354–1370.
Altheide, D. and R. Snow (1979) Media Logic (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage).
Athens, L. (1995) “Dramatic Self-change”, The Sociological Quarterly, 36, 571–586.
Athens, L. (1997) Violent Criminal Acts and Actors Revisited (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press).
Becker, H. (1963) Outsiders (NewYork: Glencoe).
Cullin, D. (2004) “The Depressive and the Psychopath: At Last We Know Why the Columbine Killers Did It”, Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2099203/, date accessed March 1, 2011.
Fox, J. A. and J. Levin (2005) Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).
FOXNews.com (2010) “Pilot Crashes into Texas Building in Apparent Anti-IRS Suicide”, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/18/pilot-crashes-texas-building-apparent-anti-irs-suicide, date accessed April 28, 2010.
Frymer, B. (2009) “The Media Spectacle of Columbine: Alienated Youth as an Object of Fear”, American Behavioral Scientist, 52 (10), 1387–1404.
Giroux, H. A. (2009) Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
Goffman, E. (1963) Behavior in Public Places (New York: Simon & Schuster).
Healy, R. (2006) “The Columbine Papers: What Their Parents Knew”, Time, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/us/17bishop.html, date accessed December 15, 2009.
Hickey, E. W. (2010) Serial Murderers and Their Victims, 5th edn. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).
Hickey, E. W. (2013) Serial Murderers and Their Victims, 6th edn. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).
Hightower, S. (1991). “Killer May Have Had Vendetta against Women”, Associated Press, Retrieved from Lexis/Nexis, date accessed January 15, 2010.
Holmes, R. M. and S. T. Holmes (2001) Mass Murder in the United States (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall).
Kimmel, M. S. and M. Mahler (2003) “Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence”, American Behavioral Scientist, 46, 1439–1458.
Klein, J. (2006) “Cultural Capital and High School Bullies: How Social Inequality Impacts School Violence”, Men and Masculinities, 9, 53–75.
Kotarba, J. A. (1984) “One More for the Road: The Subversion of Labeling in the Tavern Subculture”, in J. D. Douglas (ed.) The Sociology of Deviance (Boston: Allyn and Bacon).
Larkin, R. (2007) Comprehending Columbine (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press).
Larkin, R. (2009) “The Columbine Legacy: Rampage Shooting as Political Acts”, American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1309–1326.
Lemert, E. (1967) Human Deviance, Social Problems and Social Control (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall).
Levin, B. (2010) In CNN: Special Investigations Unit. “Death and Taxes: Joe Stack’s Attack on the IRS”, http://www.archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1004/18/siu.01.html, date accessed April 25, 2010.
Levin, J. and E. Madfis (2009) “Mass Murder at School and Cumulative Strain”, American Behavioral Scientist, 52 (9), 1227–1245.
Madfis, E. and T. Arford (2008) “Investigating Precipitating Factors in Mass Murder: Do ‘Last Straws’ Get to the Bottom of Rampage Killing or Merely Scratch the Surface?”, paper presented at the “Conference of the Eastern Sociological Society”, New York
Michaud, S. and H. Aynesworth (1983) The Only Living Witness (New York: W. W. Norton).
Newman, K. and C. Fox (2009) “Repeat Tragedy: Rampage Shootings in American High School and College Settings, 2002–2008”, American Behavioral Science, 52, 1287–1308.
Newman, K., C. Fox, W. Roth, J. Mehta and D. Harding (2004) Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings (New York: Basic Books).
Ramsland, K. (2005) Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers: Why They Kill (Westport, CT: Praeger).
Rhodes, R. (1999) Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist (New York: Alfred A. Knopf).
Rudd, M., A. Berman, T. Joiner Jr., M. Nock, M. Silverman, M. Mandrusiak et al. (2006) “Warning Signs for Suicide: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications”, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 36 (3), 255–262.
Shepard, C. (1999a) A Columbine Site, http://acolumbinesite.com/eric/writing/journal.html, date accessed October 10, 2009.
Shepard, C. (1999b) A Columbine Site, http://acolumbinesite.com/media.html, date accessed October 10, 2009.
Tonso, K. (2009) “Violent Masculinities as Tropes for School Shooters: The Montreal Massacre, the Columbine Attack and Rethinking Schools”, American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1266–1285.
Virginia Tech Review Panel Report (2007) “Mass Killings at Virginia Tech April 16, 2007”, http://www.vtreviewpanel.org/report/index.html, date accessed January 28, 2010.
Vossekuil, B., R. Fein, M. Reddy, R. Borum and W. Modzeleski (2004) The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (Washington DC US Secret Service and US Department of Education).
Copyright information
© 2014 Jennifer Lynn Murray
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murray, J.L. (2014). The Mass Killer’s Search for Validation through Infamy, Media Attention and Transcendence. In: The Death and Resurrection of Deviance. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137303806_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137303806_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45432-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-30380-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)