Intimidation

Acted intimidation in professional wrestling

Intimidation is a behaviour and legal wrong which usually involves deterring or coercing an individual by threat of violence.[1][2] It is in various jurisdictions a crime and a civil wrong (tort). Intimidation is similar to menacing, coercion, terrorizing[3] and assault in the traditional sense.[note 1]

This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victim might be targeted based on multiple factors like gender, race, class, skin color, competency, knowledge, wealth, temperament, etc. Intimidation is done for making the other person submissive[4] (also known as cowing), to destabilize/undermine the other, to force compliance, to hide one's insecurities, to socially valorize oneself, etc. There are active and passive coping mechanisms against intimidation that include, but are not limited to, not letting the intimidator invade your personal dignity and space, addressing their behavior directly, understanding those behaviors as methods to bypass ethical norms and exploit fear as a means of securing compliance or dominance, or sometimes as final straws the person has to achieve their antisocial goals, avoiding the person, being cautious around them, honing breakaway skills, documenting, etc. Victims of intimidation would reasonably develop apprehension, experience fear of injury or harm, etc from the unwanted behaviors or tools of intimidation that include, and not limited to, condescending, rudeness, sarcasm, disrespecting, patronizing, degrading, disparaging, etc. However, it is not legally necessary to prove that the behavior caused the victim to experience terror or panic.[5]

Intimidation as a political process is done through national level threats to compel or deter another country to operate in ways the intimidating country wants it to be, an example of political intimidation is putting an embargo on items that the target country depends through import for forcing their compliance.[6][7] Certain second and third world countries use terrorism as an intimidation tactic. "A terroristic threat is a crime generally involving a threat to commit violence communicated with the intent to terrorize other."[8] Personal intimidation is considered to be a management strategy to signal/inform potential rivals that they may face significant consequences if they act against the person in charge/management or to get workers in line.[9] Certain forms of intimidation like sexual and racial ones are considered as criminal offense in several civilized countries.

  1. ^ "intimidation". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  2. ^ "Definition of INTIMIDATE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference maine-terror was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Fein, Melvyn L. (October 31, 1999). The Limits of Idealism: When Good Intentions Go Bad. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 100+. ISBN 978-0-306-46211-5.
  5. ^ Black's law dictionary (9th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West. 2009. p. 737. ISBN 9780314199508.
  6. ^ Spykman, Nicholas J. (July 12, 2017). America's Strategy in World Politics: The United States and the Balance of Power. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-53208-2. It is not only possible to break the will of a nation by depriving it of essential imports; it is also possible to force a state to surrender...
  7. ^ Wegren, Stephen K. (November 16, 2018). Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-5381-1427-8.
  8. ^ "Terroristic Threat Law and Legal Definition". uslegal.com. USLegal.
  9. ^ Bolino, Mark C.; Turnley, William H. (2003). "Counternormative impression management, likeability, and performance ratings: the use of intimidation in an organizational setting". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 24 (2): 237–250. doi:10.1002/job.185. ISSN 0894-3796.


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