In my post Atrocity and 'Humanity' below I reflected on the Norwegian mass-killer Breivik and referred to ". . a profoundly low self-esteem, coupled with an inflated ego". I remember at the time pondering on this strange coupling of two apparently conflicting characteristics.
There was an interview with Stephen Pinker on Radio 4 this morning. He has a new book coming out, The Better Angels of our Nature in which, apparently, he suggests that the human race is becoming progressively less violent, and tries to find out what we're doing right. I have to admit that, given the appallingly violent history of the last century in terms of the sheer numbers of human beings killed by their fellow human beings this seems a strange starting point.
But in the interview there was a brief discussion about self-esteem. He said that the theory that violent behaviour can be caused by low self-esteem has never had any real factual analysis behind it, and that the opposite is in fact true. It is caused by having too much self-esteem.
I must admit, that rings more true; but the implications - for example, for penal policy - are a bit disquieting.
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There's a risk of getting into semantics here but I think your first instinct was right.
In the army basic training is designed to breakdown self esteem and rebuild your identity where you are defined by your part of the group.
You kill because your mates are where you get your self worth.
Equally the use of child soldiers in many war zones around the world is not becase of lack of adults to fight but because a child can be more easily broken down and used to commit atrocities.
That lack of moral center is directly connected to the breaking of their self worth.
Last point (sorry to go on) prison often serves to break down people's self esteem and long term prisoners often come to think of themselves as outcasts not worthy of mixing with society.
This feeds into recidivism.
Conversely jobs, decent housing and education have been proven to low the likelyhood of reoffending - I think in no small part because it raises the ex-offender's self worth.
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