Testing’ Elias: Aspects of Violence Viewed in Long-Term Perspective

Abstract

Summary. "Testing" Elias: Aspects of violence in a long term perspective

This article "controversial" is dedicated to "test" the core elements of the theory of the "civilizing process" of Elias in a non-positivist. More specifically, the generic concept of violence is divided into ten categories, some of which help to better understand war, genocide, crime, punishment and the sport from a long-term perspective. the inclusion of the work by a number of authors, more or less critical of Elias, allows conclude that, contrary to what has been said often, the arguments and evidence not "fake" at all the work of Elias, but that claim validity in most central aspects. There is, therefore, that the contributions of Elias in relation to violence allows for "epistemological break" with common sense in this area.

Keywords: escalation of violence affective (emotional) - rational, aggression, civilizing processes, de-civilizing and dis-civilized, violence as a game.