Lecture 8 Flashcards
Who generally kills more of the same sex?
Males
What is the correlation between status and warriorship?
Warriorship increases as status does
At what age are there the most homicides for men?
Late 20s - 325 deaths per million
At what age are there the most homicides for women?
Fairly even throughout 20s/30s/40s -peaks at 60/70 deaths per million
Why are men more likely to go to war?
No instance of women forming same-sex conditions to go to war
In males, mechanisms exist to evaluate costs/benefits of engaging in aggression
Warfare leads to access to women
Males value bravery, strength and fighting skills
What are the 4 requisites of war?
Gain in reproductive resources must be large enough to outweigh reproductive costs of engaging in warfare
Members of the coalition must believe that their group will emerge victorious
Individual risk must translate into benefits
Warriors must be ignorant about who will live or die in battle
What is not the same as warfare?
Militarism
What are the differences?
Although same conditions unconsciously recreated, basic unit of organisation, small number who train, live and fight together
Members commonly report fighting for each other, rather than the cause
And that intense bonds are formed with other members of the group
What are the men from the first world war known as?
The lost generation
Who was the largest number of men killed?
Although a large proportion of ordinary soldiers were killed, proportionally larger numbers of officers were killed
In one battalion of 1000 men, how many remained?
8
Which species has onboard weaponry and inbuilt cut off signals to stop them from killing another of the same species?
Hawks
Which species does not have onboard weaponry and inbuilt cut off signals to stop them from killing another of the same species?
Doves - they will peck another of their species to death
Do you humans have cut off signals?
No, therefore constraints on behaviour are cultural
What does culture do?
Outlaws and so inhibits incest, theft, rape, murder which enables humans to concentrate on problems of survival in a harsh environment, rather than simply seeking to protect ourselves from each other.
What happens when cultural constraints fail?
Women, particularly mothers, keep it going. They tell male children stories of what happened and therefore implant the idea of revenge in them.
Who is Rolf Kuschel?
He was born 1939
Professor of social psychology at Uni of Copenhagen
He worked on studying the Bellonese taboo system.
He analysed 600 years bloodshed among the local people
Vengeance is their reply - published and also the English-Rennellese/Bellonese dictionary
Where is Bellona and Rennell?
They are the southernmost and smallest provinces in Melanesian nation Soloman islands but are inhabited by Polynesians
What is the combined land area of Bellona and Rennell?
1, 154.5 square kilometres and are 24 km apart
How wide/long/high is Bellona?
10 km long and 2.5 km wide and 55 metres high (17 square miles)
When did Bellona (and Renell) receive christianity?
1938, about 150 years later than most islands in the Pacific - a lot of cultural knowledge has been retained
How is history passed down?
Oral tradition
How many people can Bellona support?
1000-1200 people
Oral tradition revealed that…
over 24 generations, it never supported more than 500-600 people
Why did it not support many people?
Because of the effects of blood feuds
What is the first example of blood feuds?
Almost 600 years ago, some Bellonese men invited friends over from Rennell.
After the festival, one of the Renellese men went to the beach with some Bellonese men.
When the Renellese man passed by brackish water (used during periods of drought) he pissed in them
As a result, the Bellonese men tickled him to death
A few years later, a well equipped canoe fleet reached Bellona - the attackers arrived to revenge their slain relative
They killed all men, women, children of the slayer’s kin - only one family member survived.
Took almost 175 years before the offspring of the surviving member could launch an act of revenge
Went on for 300 years
What is the second example of a blood feud?
200 years ago, a man forgot to tell his relative, from whom he had borrowed a decoy pigeon, that a hawk had clawed and killed it.
When the owner of the decoy found this out, he was so upset that he did not leave his hut for 7 days
Afterwards, he went down to the beach and destroyed the canoe of the relative who hadn’t told him about the decoy.
Wa the onset of a prolonged blood feud that went on for 150 years. 29 problems and 34 deaths.
In 1984, what was the homicide rate in the UK?
1.4 per 100,000
In 1415-1888, what was the homicide rate in Bellona?
62.2 per 100,000
In 1889-1938, what was the homicide rate in Bellona?
295.5 per 100,000
What are the underlying causes of killing and their percentages?
Vengeance (53.2%) Theft or destruction of property (20.5%) Humiliating behaviour (17.4%) Other behaviour (4.2%) Unknown (4.7%)
What are the reasons for refraining from acts of vengeance?
Killing of low status people (18 - 26.8%)
Few survivors in decent group (11 - 17.9%)
Killing of close kin (8 - 11.9%)
No survivors in a descent group (7 - 14.9%)
Killer not identified (5 - 7.5%)
Killing of notorious thieves (2 - 3%)
Other reasons (5 - 7.5%)
Unknown (2 - 3%)
Is there one factor to explain occurrence and maintenance of bloodshed on Bellona
No - combination of factors mostly linked with social structures
What did the collective reasons cause in Bellona?
For the Bellonese to be locked into an action pattern requiring continuous cloodshed
What can aggression be?
Maladaptive as well as adaptive
In what year was there a Christmas truce?
1914