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There are numerous conceptions of violence today, such as physical, psychological, emotional, structural, and epistemic. The question of which social phenomena are to be described as violence is itself a matter of furious dispute. In social theory, there is a widespread tendency to distinguish between ‘modern’ and ‘postmodern’ conceptions of violence. In this scheme, modern violence is primarily physical, while postmodern violence takes places across a broad spectrum of forms. The paper questions this binary. The co-occurrence and conflict between these forms of violence leads to a third form, which I call refigured violence. The refiguration of violence can be observed in three developments, which are mediatisation, polycontexturalisation, and translocalisation. I provide one illustration of these considerations with the example of so-called shock sites on the internet. In so doing, I emphasise that the sociology of knowledge can provide a valuable perspective for making sense of contemporary discourses about violence in all their complexity.

This article aims to develop a social theory of violence that emphasizes the role of the third party as well as the communication between the involved subjects. For this Teresa Koloma Beck’s essay ‘The Eye of the Beholder: Violence as a Social Process’ is taken as a starting point, which adopts a social-constructivist perspective. On the one hand, the basic concepts and the benefits of this approach are presented. On the other hand, social-theoretical problems of this approach are revealed. These deficits are counteracted by expanding Koloma Beck’s approach with a communicative-constructivist framework. Thus, the role of communicative action and the ‘objectification of violence’ is emphasized. These aspects impact the perception, judgement and (de-)legitimation of violence phenomena and the emergence of a ‘knowledge of violence’. Communicative actions and objectifications form a key to understanding violent interactions and the link between the micro and macro levels. Finally, the methodological consequences for the research of violence and Communicative Constructivism are discussed. Furthermore, possible research fields are outlined, which open up by looking at communicative action and the objectifications within the ‘triads of violence’.

In dem vorliegenden Beitrag widmen wir uns den Besonderheiten einer qualitativen Thanatosoziologie. Während die Thanatosoziologie im Verlauf ihrer Geschichte zunehmend für qualitative Methoden geöffnet wurde, ist eine Reflexion über den Forschungsprozess bisher jedoch weitestgehend ausgeblieben. Wir legen dar, dass und inwiefern die Thanatosoziologie ein Konglomerat multipler Ansätze und Themen bildet. Daran anknüpfend arbeiten wir insgesamt sechs Grundannahmen heraus, die im qualitativ ausgerichteten Forschungsprozess von Thanatosoziolog*innen eine Rolle spielen: epistemologische Grenzen, die (Außer-)Alltäglichkeit des Forschungsgegenstandes, der erschwerte Feldzugang, (implizite) Normen und Pietätsgebote, die besondere Relevanz der Forschungsethik sowie die aus all dem resultierende Hervorhebung der Subjektivität und Emotionalität der Forschenden. Diese Grundannahmen sind zwar je für sich genommen auch in anderen Forschungsfeldern vorzufinden, in ihrer spezifischen Konstellation kennzeichnen sie das qualitative Forschen zum Lebensende jedoch in besonderem Maße. Eine Berücksichtigung dieser kleinsten gemeinsamen Nenner thanatosoziologischer Forschung kann eine detaillierte Methodenreflexion und somit einen differenzierteren sowie erkenntnisträchtigeren Forschungsprozess im Kontext von Sterben, Tod und Trauer ermöglichen.

Zusammenfassung: Thanatosoziologisch zu arbeiten bedeutet, wissenschaftlich mit Sterben, Tod und/oder Trauer konfrontiert zu sein - was die Lebenswelten der entsprechenden Forschenden keineswegs unberührt lässt. Wir möchten die Selbstthematisierungsdebatte nutzen, um Einblicke in das sozialwissenschaftliche Forschen in Todesnähe zu geben. Dazu stellen wir ethnografische Studien vor, um Besonderheiten der Feldkonturierung, des Feldzugangs und der Feldaufenthalte herauszuarbeiten, die mit der Endlichkeitsthematik Zusammenhängen. Darüber hinaus präsentieren wir autoethnografische Vignetten, in denen wir das konkrete thanatosoziologische Arbeiten problematisieren. Was bedeutet es, einen Artikel über das Sterben zu schreiben, wenn man eine Verlusterfahrung verarbeiten muss? Wie behält man ein distanziertes Verhältnis zu dem Phänomen sterbender Kinder bei, wenn man die Nachbarskinder beim Spielen hört? Und wie geht man damit um, ein Tötungsvideo zu analysieren, dessen Hauptfiguren an die eigene Familie erinnern? Die biografisch inspirierten Texte sollen Schlaglichter auf lebensweltliche Momente werfen, die immer Teil des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens sind und in Todesnähe besondere Evokationen erzeugen können.

This paper highlights the dynamics in sequences of violence using the perspective of communicative constructivism as a theoretical framework. The main focus of this paper is on the role of third parties in violent sequences. Using the example of two smartphone videos that show different types of violence (a brawl in a less institutionalized setting, execution in a military context), the third parties in these violent encounters are analyzed. Considerations from communicative constructivism are pursued to make a distinction between contextuRal and contextual third parties. The former are physically and performatively involved in the sequences of violence while the latter have consequences for the dynamics of violence due to their semantic and symbolic representation. ContextuRal and contextual thirds are to be understood not as static roles but as \"modes of action\" that have a different influence on the sequences of violence and can be better comprehended in their specific temporal-sequential embeddedness into the trajectories of violence. Therefore, the analyses emphasize that violence can be understood as communicative action in which those involved within the \"triad of violence\" refer to each other in their interactions.

This paper highlights the dynamics in sequences of violence using the perspective of communicative constructivism as a theoretical framework. The main focus of this paper is on the role of third parties in violent sequences. Using the example of two smartphone videos that show different types of violence (a brawl in a less institutionalized setting, execution in a military context), the third parties in these violent encounters are analyzed. Considerations from communicative constructivism are pursued to make a distinction between contextuRal and contextual third parties. The former are physically and performatively involved in the sequences of violence while the latter have consequences for the dynamics of violence due to their semantic and symbolic representation. ContextuRal and contextual thirds are to be understood not as static roles but as “modes of action” that have a different influence on the sequences of violence and can be better comprehended in their specific temporal-sequential embeddedness into the trajectories of violence. Therefore, the analyses emphasize that violence can be understood as communicative action in which those involved within the “triad of violence” refer to each other in their interactions.