Civilization and Barbarism

Cattle Frontiers in Latin America

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2107466
AutoresSilvio R Duncan Baretta (University of Pittsburgh), John Markoff (0000-0001-6629-4417, University of Pittsburgh)
Ano1978
Volume20
Fascículo4
Páginas587-620
Data de publicação1978-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417500012561
OpenAlexW2096370562
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas53
Referências citadas57

INTRODUCTIONIn looking at yesterday's frontiers (or at today's industrialized world), social analysts tend to see violence as a straightforward and uncomplicated phenomenon: when openly used, it is a direct way of settling disputes; when it is not used but available, it is a necessary-and, at least in the short run, sufficient-condition of domination. As a background condition violence is readily forgotten. Such is the case even in the study of the various affronts to authority that are lumped under the rubric of'collective behavior.' One speaks of violent 'episodes' arising from the 'breakdown' of various routine social mechanisms. By the same token, all the interesting problems in political theory seem to lie in the area of how to control people in every other conceivable manner: through the establishment of a normative consensus, through ideologies, through the creation of common interests, or through bargains and deals. Sufficient consideration is not usually given to the varied and subtle effects of these ways in which the capacity for violence is structured in social life. But consequences follow for any society from the presence or absence of full-time military specialists, from the forms of their organization, from the regional distribution of control of organized violence, from the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of force, and from the norms associated with such use

Barbarism · Civilization · Criminology · Development economics · Economics · Ideology · Law and economics · Normative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social control · Sociology · Yesterday · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Latin American Literature Studies · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America