The Making of Violent Hero: A Study of the Social Construction of Crimes in Kohat, Pakistan

Hina Gul Rahi1 & Rashid Ishaq2

Abstract
The study explores the process of social construction of crimes, i.e. the
process in which the people of a specific group/community perceive a criminal act
as a heroic phenomenon. It analyzes the perception of people toward different
types of crimes/criminals to understand why people glorify certain types of
crimes/criminals while stigmatize other. The study was conducted in Jungle Khel,
an area of district Kohat, which is notoriously known for high ration of crimes like
drug dealing, robbery etc. Qualitative method was used in the study and data was
collected from 40 participants of both genders through in-depth interviews.
Thematic analysis technique was used for analyzing the collected data. The
findings reveal that the phenomenon of „violent heroism‟ exists in the community
as many crimes are implicitly admired by the whole community sometimes by a
specific group there. For instance, the criminals are glorified and cherished in
some manners as „heroes‟ at the local level. While Rashicertain crimes such as
robbery and theft are despised as these do not match with the cultural ideal of
honourable conduct.

Keywords: Social Construction, Criminals, Violence, Honor, Cultural Heroes.