A Sociology of Trauma

A Sociologyof Trauma: Violence and Self-Identity Justin Allen Snyder Charlottesville, VA Masters of Arts in Sociology, Universityof Virginia, 2003 Bachelors of Arts in History, University of Illinois, 2001 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology University of Virginia May, 2009 © Copyright by Justin Allen Snyder All Rights Reserved May 2009 Abstract: A Sociology of Trauma This project relates the experience of violence to self-identity. It involves a systematic content analysis of memoirs published on rape, terrorism, genocide, and war. The content analysis provided a complex typology of traumatic stressors that is general to the instances of violence considered. The typology is a style of formal sociology comparable to what has been termed social patternanalysis (Zerubavel 2007). The identified stressors are as follows: the symbolic and cognitive expansion of violence, the loss of self-propriety during violent physical exchanges, the frustration of mundane choices and routines, and the blurring of moral and cognitive boundaries. A theoretical description was fit to the empirical findings. The typology illustrates that more happens in the process of violence than just direct physical harm. I employ the concepts of reflexivityand authenticity to describe the traumatic meaning of these events. Reflexivity and authenticity are two interrelated concepts used to capture aspects of contemporary Westernself-identity. During violence, reflexivity and authenticity appear impossible; the stressors undermine an individual's basic confidence in his or her self-concept. As a consequence, individuals experience a comprehensive mortification of the self. Symptoms of posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) result fromthis experience of severe humiliation. A Sociologyof Trauma Acknowledgements Acknowledgements JeffOlick, my dissertation chair, introducedme to my topic and encouraged me to approach it in an ambitious way. I worry that his expectations exceed my talents, but he has helped me write a dissertation of which I am proud. Throughout the development and writing processes, Jeffwas earnest in his criticisms but always respected my disagreements. I am sure I will regret not seeking his counsel more frequently. My readers from the sociology department are Joe Davis and Krishan Kumar. They both had an early impact on me as an academic. Both influenced the way that I do sociology and the kind of sociologist I am. I continue to be impressed with their scholarship. Jennifer Geddes, my third reader, came late to this moment in my intellectual development, but I have gleaned her insight fromafar, through publications, presentations, and questions at colloquiums. Milton Vickerman has been an important mentor forme in graduate school. I remember him once telling me, "I want you to be successful." These small acts of support can be extremely effective. I will never forgethis well-timed words and will remember to offer them to my own students. I want to thank Brad Campbell and Jason Manning. Our friendship crosses one of sociology's deepest paradigmatic divides, and our late-night arguments have served me better than any graduate course. Their social support has also kept me resilient to the frustrations of graduate life. The same is true of my discussions with friend Elizabeth Smiley. A Sociology of Trauma Acknowledgements ii This dissertation is dedicated to my family. First are my parents. I hope my achievement repays some of my debt fortheir love. Finally is my wife, Amanda. This dissertation would not have been possible without her. She has been a benefactor, copyeditor, and therapist. Our intimacy has sustained me through years of stress and self discovery. My achievement is just as much hers as it is mine, and without Amanda my life would be far diminished. Contents Acknowledgements i-ii 1. Introduction: A Living Death 5 Victimhood in the West 7 Posttraumatic Culture 10 The Psychology of Trauma 14 Sociology and Trauma 15 Traumatic Stressors 20 Reflexivity and Authenticity 22 Research Design 24 Limits of the Research 29 A Map of What Follows 31 Writing about Trauma 33 2. Past and Present Concepts of Trauma 35 Trauma: A Brief Intellectual History 35 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 42 Subjectivity and Violence 56 3. Authenticity and Reflexivity 58 Authentic Individuality 58 The Reflexive Self 65 The Labor of Trauma 79 4. The Subjectivity of Violence 81 ReflexiveAnxieties Toward Violence 82 The Sequestration and Mediation of Violence 84 Violence Unbound 89 The Expansion of Harm 96 When They Need Them Most 109 5. The Entrancing Nature of Physical Harm 111 The Entrancing Nature of Perpetration 111 The Victim Role 122 The Traumatic Symptoms of Entrancement 129 The Meaningfulness of Violent Exchanges 135 6. Trauma and the Mundane 137 Trauma and the Body 137 Malevolent Environments 152 Ordinary Life: Work, Sex, and the Family 154 The Violence of Small Torments 162 7. Betrayal of Authenticity and Reflexivity 164 Betrayal and Moral Injury 165 The Perceptual Fog of Violence 175 Reaffirming Perception: Bearing Witness 194 8. The Symptoms of Trauma 198 "Other" Symptoms of Trauma 198 A Mortified Self 207 The Interpretation of Symptoms 210 Trauma: AnOngoing Interpretative Process 222 9. Recovery and Resilience, Trauma and Identity 226 Trauma and Social Support 227 Therapists and Traumatic Interpretations 234 The Sociology of Trauma and Identity 238 The Authenticity of Anxiety 244 Bibliography 250 A Sociology of Trauma A Living Death 5 Chapter 1 Introduction: A Living Death This dissertation is about people who suffertrauma after violence. What is trauma? What happens in extreme violence to cause trauma? How do traumatized people describe their experiences? How can sociology help us understand their descriptions? To answer these questions, I conducted a content analysis of memoirs written on rape, terrorism, genocide, and war. The content analysis produced a typology of traumatic stressors, which identifies stressor forms common to diverse violent experiences. The stressors include the symbolic and cognitive expansion of violence, the loss of emotional propriety during violent physical exchanges, the frustration of mundane choices and routines, and the blurring of moral and cognitive boundaries. The audience forthis project is not just scholars who are interested in trauma. It is also medical sociologists, sociologists of identity, sociologists of emotions, and cognitive sociologists. I situate the empirical findingsby relating them to contemporary self-identity. In particular, I use the notions of reflexivityand authenticityto conceptualize the meaning of the stressors and their relationship to traumatic symptoms. Authenticity refers to a sincere and voluntary identity defined by the individual. Authenticity is often expressed by one's choices regarding religion, morality, emotionality, appearance, work, recreation, sexuality, intimacies, and family life. The agent of authenticity is reflexivity. Reflexivityis continuous self-observation and self- A Sociology of Trauma A Living Death 6 management. Reflexivityand authenticity together serve as bases of contemporary Westernindividuality; they are sources of dignity. Reflexivityis a condition of doubt. The reflexive individual is responsible for creating his or her own identity, and people are persistently anxious about this burden. I confirm what two prominent theorists of trauma have suggested in passing: "[O]ften trauma does not present a radically new experience, but rather confirmssome belief that an individual has tried to evade" (van der Kolk and Mcfarlane 1996: 8). The typologized stressors are meaningful signs forthe individual that his or her burden is impossible. In ordinary life, people endure similarly embarrassing anomalies to reflexive authenticity, but not all at once, so individuals can regain comportment with relative ease. During violence, these events accumulate, and dignity is difficult to restore.1 Individuals experience a comprehensive mortification of the self(Goffman 1961). One Holocaust survivor explains, "You lost the capability of proving to yourself, in a moment of doubt, that you are still the same human being you were when you came here. That being is gone, and only a miserably wretched creature remains in her place" ( quoted Des Pres 1975: 182). Though trauma is tied to common anxieties of reflexiveindividuality, the traumatic mortification of self is an incomparable agony. Trauma is what Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic called "a living death." Individuals suffering posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been humiliated to the point that their self-identity is symbolically annihilated. This accounts for 1 The "accumulation of anomalies" is a common mechanism forthe ruptures of other kinds of social entities, including, for example, scientific paradigms (Kuhn 1996), states (Goldstone 1991), and, Karl Marx thought, global political-economies (1978 [1848]). A Sociology of Trauma A Living Death 7 symptoms of trauma: guilt, hypervigilance, social withdrawal, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and death imagery. The notions of reflexivityand authenticity also capture the traumatic stress of symptoms, which continue the mortification of self endured during extreme violence. The trauma victim's social network is crucial in breaking this cycle of humiliation. In ordinary life, others help the individual maintain a sense of dignified self-propriety; the same is true foran individual

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