In this article the hypothesis of individualisation will be empirically tested, accordingly the internal standard of violence of a society will increase with the dissolution of traditional bonds and values. This hypothesis contradicts the assumption of Durkheim, who postulated a decrease of violence with the spread of morals of equality and universalism, as main characteristics of individualisation. On the basis of correlation analysis between rates of homicide and different indicators of individualisation, power distance and risk tolerance as well as indicators for socio-economic inequality, the author concludes that it is not individualisation but collective orientations and social exclusion that lead to higher rates of violence. Especially these factors we are witnessing also in western European societies as a process of re-collectivisation and increasing social exclusion.