Judge Thy Neighbor

Social scientists neglect negative interpersonal ties. While lab experiments on the willing assumption of malevolent authority open a window on this topic, Bergemann is the first to examine betrayal and denunciation to the authorities in natural settings, and to theorize the common causes and patterns over the centuries. A fascinating opening into a dark side of human behavior.--Mark Granovetter, Joan Butler Ford Professor, Stanford University Research on deviance typically focuses on those who violate prevailing norms. Bergemann turns the camera around: What if the real deviants are the accusers, not the accused? By applying alternative theoretical models to three historical cases, Bergemann identifies the viral strains in epidemics of denunciation, with stunning new insights. This exquisitely crafted study is a must-read not only for students of social control but for anyone who wonders if law enforcement should be crowdsourced.--Michael Macy, Goldwin Smith Professor of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University The nastiest feature of living in oppressive regimes is the pressure to denounce other people. But Bergemann shows some surprising patterns. Regimes can be inundated with unreliable information and petty grievances, and some incentives have more costs than others. This history is highly relevant in today's era of whistleblowers, snitching, and online accusations.--Randall Collins, author of Interaction Ritual Chains Denunciation is more pervasive than we think, yet remains poorly studied and understood. Using three case studies, Bergemann advances new hypotheses and helps shed light on this intriguing social phenomenon.--Stathis N. Kalyvas, author of The Logic of Violence in Civil War There have been case studies of the Inquisition and lots of work on the Gestapo, but the explanations in all of those are ad hoc and make no effort to generalize beyond their single cases. Judge Thy Neighbor offers a theory that I expect will both transform future work on these and other cases of denunciations and influence broader social-science analyses of group dynamics, social movements, and microsocial relations.--Richard Lachmann, State University of New York at Albany