Stone, Claire (2000) The cultural significance of interpersonal violence, with special reference to seventeenth-century Worcestershire. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The historiography of early modern violence has generally focused upon
the quantification of homicide over the longue durée. However, such approaches,
predicated on the assumption that violence is a transhistorical phenomenon,
conceal the differences between past and present discourses. This thesis makes an
original contribution to knowledge by showing the significance violence held for
contemporaries. This is achieved by locating violence within a wide cultural
framework. Employing a largely qualitative methodology, the thesis elucidates the
relationship seventeenth-century religious, political and physiological thought had
with conceptions of violence. Drawing together existing work and utilizing a
variety of primary sources, the thesis demonstrates the diverse meanings invested
in violence, including the significance attributed to weapons and the parts of the
body targeted.
Historical research into violence has sometimes been theoretically
uninformed. The thesis redresses this by engaging closely with definitions of the
concept 'violence', including those developed in other disciplines. It examines and
rejects the (often implicit) claim that violence is intrinsically irrational. It asserts
that, as a type of emotional performance, violence served an important
communicative ftmction. Force was also used to meet specific material objectives.
The thesis argues that seventeenth-century violence was part of a process
and, accordingly, situates it in relation to preceding and succeeding events. It
assesses the use of force in defining economic and social status within
interpersonal relationships. The thesis explains the role played by those who
intervened to stop fights. It shows how violence advertised problems in
relationships and prompted peace-making efforts. The thesis contends that views
of its harmfulness relative to other sanctions have changed substantially, making it
anachronistic for historians to regard violence as necessarily deplorable and to
interpret declining levels as an index of civilisation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Violence -- History -- 17th century
Official Date:	September 2000
Dates:	Date Event September 2000 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of History
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Capp, B. S.
Sponsors:	University of Warwick ; Arts and Humanities Research Board (Great Britain) (AHRB)
Extent:	vii, 313 leaves
Language:	eng

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