From Scapegoating to the Culture of Cruelty: (Mis)Managing Mimetic Desire and Violence in Late Modernity

Due to the ?civilizing process? (Elias), the overall level of violence is decreasing; yet its transforming patterns persist. The article aims at examining the contemporary structures and mechanisms responsible for violence control, while also exploring the newly emerging, naturalized patterns of cru...

Полное описание

Сохранить в:  
Библиографические подробности
Главный автор: Sik, Domonkos (Автор)
Формат: Электронный ресурс Статья
Язык:Английский
Проверить наличие: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Опубликовано: 2024
В: Theory, culture & society
Год: 2024, Том: 41, Выпуск: 6, Страницы: 37-57
Нормированные ключевые слова (последовательности):B Страстное желание (мотив)
B Власть
Другие ключевые слова:B Desire
B René Girard
B Violence
B Мимесис
B Late Modernity
B Scapegoat
Online-ссылка: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Описание
Итог:Due to the ?civilizing process? (Elias), the overall level of violence is decreasing; yet its transforming patterns persist. The article aims at examining the contemporary structures and mechanisms responsible for violence control, while also exploring the newly emerging, naturalized patterns of cruelty. Firstly, René Girard?s mimetic theory is overviewed: while in archaic societies, mimetic crisis is controlled by sacrificial rites, modernization reconfigures this paradigm. Secondly, these transformations are mapped: mimetic desire is channelled into the market processes, while mimetic crisis is managed by the state monopolizing violence. Thirdly, the structural transformations of late modernity upsetting the fragile balance of state and market are analysed: secular scapegoating becomes part of the political toolset, while the private sphere is overwhelmed by undetectable new forms of hurting and self-harming. As a culture of cruelty is naturalized, mimetic crisis becomes a continuous threat, which generates a need for the functional equivalents of sacrificial violence control.
ISSN:1460-3616
Второстепенные работы:Enthalten in: Theory, culture & society
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/02632764241239594