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6 - Avoiding Violence

The Structural Context of Non-Fighting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Siniša Malešević
Affiliation:
University College Dublin
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Summary

Human-on-human violence is often perceived as a transcultural and transhistorical phenomenon. Hence most people assume that war and other forms of organised violence have always existed and have been present in all social orders throughout the world. However, both historical and anthropological research indicate that organised violence developed very late in human history (over the last 10,000 years or so) and that throughout history many social orders have shunned violence in many of its forms. Anthropological research has corroborated that there have been hundreds of societies with different levels of organisational complexity that have rarely experienced fighting and that have also devised elaborate ritualistic and other practices to avoid violence within and outside of one’s group. Hence in this chapter I explore why fighting is a historically specific practice that affects some societies much more than others. I also analyse why some individuals, small groups, and social organisations are less prone to fighting or actively opposed to violence than others. The chapter also zooms in on the structural contexts that hinder the development of ideological and organisational mechanisms that foster social pugnacity. I argue that the phenomenon of non-fighting operates according to similar sociological processes as those that make fighting possible – non-fighting, like fighting, does not come naturally but is a product of micro-interactional, organisational, and ideological work.

Type
Chapter
Information
Why Humans Fight
The Social Dynamics of Close-Range Violence
, pp. 161 - 188
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Avoiding Violence
  • Siniša Malešević, University College Dublin
  • Book: Why Humans Fight
  • Online publication: 29 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009162807.007
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  • Avoiding Violence
  • Siniša Malešević, University College Dublin
  • Book: Why Humans Fight
  • Online publication: 29 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009162807.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Avoiding Violence
  • Siniša Malešević, University College Dublin
  • Book: Why Humans Fight
  • Online publication: 29 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009162807.007
Available formats
×