Over centuries, external restraint on violence is internalised as self-restraint, lowering rates of interpersonal violence.
Elias published it in 1939 and it was ignored for thirty years. Historical homicide data has since largely supported the trend he described, and Pinker's later work builds directly on it.
In practice
- Duelling was an ordinary means of settling a dispute among the English gentry in 1750 and unthinkable to their grandchildren.
- Corporal punishment in schools moved from routine to prohibited within one working lifetime, with no single decisive moment.
- Standing
- The framework Pinker's later work builds on.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Sociology & Culture
- Essay
- How societies hold together, sort people, and change