HIST 3850 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process, List Of Countries By Intentional Homicide Rate
13 Dec 2013
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Murder as measure of societal violence: western europe: cont. set of unbroken court records, defn constant over years, drunk driving deaths not included, regarded as worst crime, almost always reported: dark figure (never reported) Murder rates higher in past, from medieval period: 35 cases per 100k: 20x higher than rate today in europe and canada. 1500: steady decline in rates until 1750. Unclear cause of shift: norbert elias the civilizing process 1939: murder, society and social behaviour. Books on etiquette conduct manuals: how to act when person felt need to urinate, dining vs. medieval where they ate with their hands. Over time people increasingly sensitive to standards of behaviour re: dining, sex, phys aggression. Civilization never static: over 6 centuries, standards of behaviour become more strict; greater levels of self control socio-psychological processes also connected to dev of modern state. Stability of self control went up on average in european history in last.
