Civilizing Processes in Europe: Restrains and Coercion or Adjustment and Cooperation?

Civilizing process is essentially manifested in and set in motion by an increasing control over expressing emotions. Norbert Elias was one of the proponents of this idea underpinning the grand narrative of the history of emotions. Elias’ seminal book provided a framework for many subsequent inquiries that revised and reevaluated his concept. This essay poses the question of whether emotional restrains are indeed the necessary prerequisite for a society to become civilized in the modern sense of the term. On the other hand, it investigates the forces that, according to some recent studies, triggered the civilizing process in the West. For Elias, civilizing process was intrinsically connected with the emergence of nation states. Monopolization of physical force by the ruler (and the state) was the leading factor in regulating people’s behavior and subsequently controlling their emotions. This concept suggests a universal paradigm of how civilizing process functions. Yet, it employs a top down perspective that poses too much emphases on the role of the state control. The ruler becomes the main force fostering this process in such “pacified zones” as royal courts. Jeroen Duindam proposes his own interpretation of civilizing process denying Elias’ “victimization of the nobility. ” He points out that competition and patronage connections between nobles at the court and beyond it played crucial role in constructing certain codes of behavior. In this picture, instead of the king’s coercion Duindam brings to the fore calculated interests of multiple elites. This more nuanced stance on the nature of civilizing process corresponds with Ute Fervert’s analyses of “honor. ” Fervert traces the history of this notion in Western Europe demonstrating how a set of norms related to the concept of honorable behavior structured relationships within nobility circles. Fervert suggests that the nineteenth century codes of honor were essentially restricting nobles’ emotions. The expression of anger was restrained to a set of established rules. Duelists acted “in cold blood” rather than letting “their blood boil. ” At the same time, she points out that the notion of “honor “was integral to a social group. It was appropriated by individuals and functioned as a set of rules regulating relationships between nobles. Fervert also states that the norms of honorable behavior were taught to European nobility. This perspective demonstrates the impact of education and interpersonal dynamics on the civilizing process.