VIOLENZA E CIVILIZZAZIONE: UNA RILETTURA DI ALCUNI PASSAGGI ELIASIANI

Violence is not only an individual pulsion but it is a social construction, a language bonded in every culture: it can be an adaptive response to a specific stimulus or stress. It is intrinsic in social systems that, in order to maintain their own identity and coherence and to self-perpetuate, they generate aggressive responses when the changes that involve them turn out to be too sudden or radical. Various contributions debated the decline of violence. The statistical data, with all evidence, show that the levels of aggression and violence in the various historical periods had greatly and progressively decreased. Elias’ reflections on the subject start by investigating in particular the link between the process of civilization and violence. What Elias is asking is how it is possible to live together relatively peacefully and with such low rates of violence. What about the Process of Civilization? What about human emotions? Violence must be deeply understood, analyzing the culture and the prevailing emotions of each historical period.