Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Mass Atrocity | Atrocity Studies Lecture

With Professor James Waller, Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice, University of Connecticut

Political or social groups wanting to commit mass murder on the basis of racial, ethnic, or religious differences are never hindered by a lack of willing executioners. In his study—Becoming Evil—social psychologist James Waller uncovers the internal and external factors that can lead ordinary people to commit extraordinary acts of evil.

Waller debunks common explanations for genocide—group think, psychopathology, unique cultures—and offers a comprehensive psychological view of how anyone can potentially participate in heinous crimes against humanity.

He outlines evolutionary forces that shape human nature, the individual dispositions that are more likely to engage in acts of evil, and the context of cruelty in which these extraordinary acts can emerge.

Waller argues that by becoming more aware of factors that lead to extraordinary evil, we will be less likely to be surprised by it and less likely to be unwitting accomplices through our passivity.

About Professor James Waller

James Waller is the inaugural Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice and Director of the Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs for the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut.

He is the author of six books, including the award-winning Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford, 2007), as well as Confronting Evil: Engaging Our Responsibility to Prevent Genocide (Oxford, 2016) and A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland (Oxford, 2021).

Presented by the minor in Atrocity Studies and the Practices of Social Justice, supported by Lauri ’77 and Jeffrey Zell ’77.