A Critical Analysis of the Representation of Serial Murderers in America
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2009 Creating cultural monsters: A critical analysis of the representation of serial murderers in America Julie Bethany Wiest University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Wiest, Julie Bethany, "Creating cultural monsters: A critical analysis of the representation of serial murderers in America. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6052 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Julie Bethany Wiest entitled "Creating cultural monsters: A critical analysis of the representation of serial murderers in America." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sociology. Suzanne B. Kurth, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Julie Bethany Wiest entitled ―Creating Cultural Monsters: A Critical Analysis of the Representation of Serial Murderers in America.‖ I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in sociology. Suzanne B. Kurth Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Hoan N. Bui Thomas C. Hood Cheryl Travis Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) CREATING CULTURAL MONSTERS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE REPRESENTATION OF SERIAL MURDERERS IN AMERICA A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Julie Bethany Wiest May 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Julie Bethany Wiest All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Finishing a dissertation is the culmination of the long and arduous task that is completing a doctoral degree, and I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to have received invaluable help throughout the process. I am ineffably grateful to Dr. Suzanne Kurth, who provided assistance and encouragement from the moment I entered the Ph.D. program and whose support has afforded me continuing opportunities and positioned me for success in academia. I also am sincerely grateful to Dr. Jerry Morrow, my longtime mentor who helped me take some of my first steps in academia and continues to walk beside me as I complete this journey and embark on new ones. Thanks also to Drs. Hoan Bui and Tom Hood, who graciously agreed to serve on my dissertation committee and have always made themselves available to offer assistance, advice – and citations. And a big thank you to Dr. Cheryl Travis for helping me at the end! I greatly appreciate my family and friends for the time they spent listening to the details of this project, for offering suggestions and encouragement, and for understanding when I was forced into relative seclusion during the final few months of writing. Thanks especially to my mom, who was sincere about her offers of assistance and has been more help then she knows; my dad for making sure I had plenty of snacks to keep me going; and my brother for keeping my computers in working order. Finally, thank you to Dr. Scott Frey for supporting my teaching and professional scholarship and to all the faculty members involved in funding decisions during the last five years! iii ABSTRACT Serial murder and serial murderers have been the subject of considerable attention in fictional crime shows (e.g., the various versions of ―Law and Order‖ and ―CSI‖) and movies (e.g., ―The Silence of the Lambs‖), as well as in the print media, since the term and profile for ―serial killer‖ were developed by the FBI in the 1970s. White, American men are frequently identified as being over-represented as serial murderers, but no adequate sociological explanation has yet been developed for this. Biological and psychological explanations are deficient, and the cultural context generally has been ignored in previous studies. Informed by a framework drawn from cultural sociology and gender studies, this study employs a qualitative content analysis of biographical narratives, newspaper articles, and legal documents regarding 15 serial murderers – nine who appear to characterize the ―typical‖ serial murderer and six who each represent a variation of one of the prototypical characteristics – to identify the ways in which the American cultural milieu fosters serial murder and the creation of white, male serial murderers. A model is offered to illustrate the workings of culture and help explain the development of serial murderers in the United States. People utilize cultural values to construct lines of action according to their cultural competencies. American cultural values — especially as they emphasize competition and individual achievement; white, male privilege; and hegemonic masculinity — along with the emotional appeal of crime commission appear iv to contribute to the development of serial murderers by making serial murder an available and desirable line of action for some men. There appears to be more diversity in characteristics of serial murderers than popular profiles suggest, and implications of the exaggerated and apparently inaccurate representations of serial murder by the media and FBI are considered. In addition, commonly employed definitions appear to describe characteristics most associated with white, male serial murderers in the United States and exclude other cases of multiple murder and serial offending. Representations of serial murder reinforce and perpetuate the power structure in American society and related values, which sustains an environment for extreme violence and creates a cultural blindness to some perpetrators. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 Rationale ............................................................................................................. 2 Organization of Chapters .................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 5 Defining Serial Murder ....................................................................................... 5 Common Characteristics of Serial Murderers..................................................... 8 Race......................................................................................................... 12 Gender ..................................................................................................... 14 Sexuality ................................................................................................. 16 Nationality............................................................................................... 16 Other Possible Paths ......................................................................................... 19 Other Serial Crimes................................................................................. 19 School Shootings .................................................................................... 21 White Supremacy .................................................................................... 21 Public Interest, Media, and Culture .................................................................. 22 Explaining Serial Murder .................................................................................. 25 Psychological Explanations .................................................................... 25 Social Psychological Explanations ......................................................... 29 Sociological Explanations ....................................................................... 30 Research Questions ........................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................. 33 Cultural Sociology ............................................................................................ 33 Broadcasting Culture .............................................................................. 35 ―Tuning In‖ and Cultural Competencies ................................................. 36 Contextual Features Suitable for Serial Murder ............................................... 40 Violence .................................................................................................. 41 Individualism, Competition, and Privilege ............................................. 43 Economic and Social Structures ............................................................. 47 Social