SOCI LECTURE 5

Question 1

What are some of the key reasons why Norbert Elias’s work is overlooked in North American academics?

Answer 1

• the title of his work is quite offensive and people often think he argues why Europeans are better
• He is often too concerned with the past and North American academics focus on the present
• His work is too long to read according to some academics

Question 2

What phenomena did Elias describe using qualitative data?

Answer 2

The major decrease in homicide rates across Europe

Question 3

What were the enablers of the Civilizing Process

Answer 3

• state formation
• manners
• use of money
• a division of labour

Question 4

Describe the first part of state formation enabler in the civilizing process.

Answer 4

Two classes of people: very wealthy territorial warlords who were extremely violent. The violence was often carried out by knights
Really poor: who lived in poverty and were frequently victims of the warrior violence

However as more land began to acquire it lead t more wealth. A control problem began to emerge due to the size and new innovative strategies were needed.

Solution:
- Common folk were marshalled into a powerful and efficient military
- Advisors were needed –> new roles of knights

Social advancement became less dependent on one’s ability to weld arms and the violent behaviour of the warrior class become unproductive. Thus, knights needed to gain control over their violent nature (pacification of the upper class)

Question 5

Describe the second part of the state-formation enabler of the civilizing process

Answer 5

There were primarily two threats imposed on the warrior class
1. Internal: revolt, treason, assassination, revolution
2. external: attacks from other nations

Solution
- In order to protect the warrior class, the nation-state claimed a monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory
- any other form of violence that threaten the King’s rule was slowly outlawed
- Social elites secured economic privileges by enforcing a brutal peace on their underlings
- The use of the military to expand state boundaries was allowed
- to discourage violence from external threats the king would use threats via acts of war

Question 6

Consequences of the illegitimate act of force

Answer 6

• death, the more important person that was killed the more brutal execution was
• The state’s impression of violence discouraged illegitimate violence and stimulated a greater pacification of society

Question 7

Describe the second enabler manners of the civilizing process.

Answer 7

• Rudimentary manners were shown as restraints as a mark of respect for the king. (if knights wanted to move up the ladder and be close to the king they needed to control their violent nature)
• The preoccupation with others (thinking beyond their own well-being) leads to a mutual identification of a more complex understanding of human relations