Making sense of violence ? Reflections on the history of interpersonal violence in Europe

Mahon, Richard Mc; Eibach, Joachim; Roth, Randolph

doi:10.4000/chs.1423

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…For instance, given the impulsive nature of many homicides today, is it safe to conclude that people today are, on average, more self-controlled than their medieval counterparts? (McMahon, Eibach, and Roth 2013). We do not take a position on this issue.…”

Section: The Civilizing Processmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…questioned the accuracy and comparability of earlier demographic estimates and homicide records, suggesting instead that homicide rates have not so much fallen as fluctuated considerably across time and space or that the homicide rates of the times are impossible to compute with any accuracy (McMahon, Eibach, and Roth 2013;Butler 2018). Other historians disagree, seeing the calculated rates "as imprecise, yes, but as valid indicators of broad patterns of change" (Kesselring 2019: 11; see also Cockburn 1991;Sharpe 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Individualization and the Decline of Homicide: England 1250-1750

Cooney,

Patterson

2023

Preprint

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A key issue in criminology is to account for variation in rates of violence across time and place. An important variable largely neglected in the literature is individualism. Building on theoretical ideas proposed by Durkheim, Black, and Baumgartner, we illustrate the role of increased individualism with a case study: the decline of homicide in England, 1250-1750. The qualitative historical materials we present reveal the growth of more individualized conflicts evident in less third-party partisan intervention and a reduced concern with honor. More individualized conflicts were, in turn, a product of a more individualized society, one characterized by increased social distance and mobility. Our argument has implications for understanding contemporary criminal violence.

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Section: The Civilizing Processmentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Individualization and the Decline of Homicide: England 1250-1750

Cooney,

Patterson

2023

Preprint

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“…Anthropological issues such as personal dissatisfaction with one's status, poverty, fatigue from work, or supportive factors of violent behaviour such as alcohol may come to mind. 21 Yet here the symbolism of honour and responsibility stand out as an important element in the mentality of the nineteenth-century man.…”

Section: Perpetrators Of Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Violent and Abusive Behaviour in Nineteenth-Century Marriage in Bohemia

Vídeňská

2023

Journal of Family History

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The study focuses on the conflictual, abusive relationships between spouses in the second half of the long nineteenth century in Bohemia. We will trace the ways in which constructions of masculinity and femininity in the past have influenced the possibilities for perpetrating violence and how offenders have defended their behaviour. The children were also part of the conflicts and sometimes displayed problematic behaviour. In addition to the judicial apparatus, marital disputes also involved town parish priests, and families, possible witnesses in cases of marital divorce. We will also focus on using gender-related swear words during the conflicts.

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“…Research in the civilizing process framework has focused on the long-term decrease and related compositional changes in lethal violence. In so doing, it may have inadvertently moved research attention from continuities to change (Eibach, 2016;McMahon, Eibach & Roth, 2013). As argued in this book, there is reason to also study the continuities of lethal violent behaviour.…”

Section: Composition Of Homicide In the Long Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time: Lethal Violence in the Early Modern Era and Present Times

Kivivuori

Rautelin

Netterstrøm

et al. 2022

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Nordic Homicide in Deep Time draws a unique and detailed picture of developments in human interpersonal violence and presents new findings on rates, patterns, and long-term changes in lethal violence in the Nordics. Conducted by an interdisciplinary team of criminologists and historians, the book analyses homicide and lethal violence in northern Europe in two eras – the 17th century and early 21st century. Similar and continuous societal structures, cultural patterns, and legal cultures allow for long-term and comparative homicide research in the Nordic context. Reflecting human universals and stable motives, such as revenge, jealousy, honour, and material conflicts, homicide as a form of human behaviour enables long-duration comparison. By describing the rates and patterns of homicide during these two eras, the authors unveil continuity and change in human violence. Where and when did homicide typically take place? Who were the victims and the offenders, what where the circumstances of their conflicts? Was intimate partner homicide more prevalent in the early modern period than in present times? How long a time elapsed from violence to death? Were homicides often committed in the context of other crime? The book offers answers to these questions among others, comparing regions and eras. We gain a unique and empirically grounded view on how state consolidation and changing routines of everyday life transformed the patterns of criminal homicide in Nordic society. The path to pacification was anything but easy, punctuated by shorter crises of social turmoil, and high violence. The book is also a methodological experiment that seeks to assess the feasibility of long-duration standardized homicide analysis and to better understand the logic of homicide variation across space and over time. In developing a new approach for extending homicide research into the deep past, the authors have created the Historical Homicide Monitor. The new instrument combines wide explanatory scope, measurement standardization, and articulated theory expression. By retroactively expanding research data to the pre-statistical era, the method enables long-duration comparison of different periods and areas. Based on in-depth source critique, the approach captures patterns of criminal behaviour, beyond the control activity of the courts. The authors foresee the application of their approach in even remoter periods. Nordic Homicide in Deep Time helps the reader to understand modern homicide by revealing the historical continuities and changes in lethal violence. The book is written for professionals, university students and anyone interested in the history of human behaviour.

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Making sense of violence ? Reflections on the history of interpersonal violence in Europe

Cited by 10 publications

References 43 publications

Individualization and the Decline of Homicide: England 1250-1750

Individualization and the Decline of Homicide: England 1250-1750

Violent and Abusive Behaviour in Nineteenth-Century Marriage in Bohemia

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time: Lethal Violence in the Early Modern Era and Present Times

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