Modernization, self-control and lethal violence. The long-term dynamics ofeuropean homicide rates in theoretical perspective

The present paper examines secular trends of homicide rates by means of a s ystematic re-analysis of all available quantitative studies on pre-modern h omicide. The results confirm, first, that homicide rates have declined in E urope over several centuries. Second, the empirical evidence shows, that un equivocal decline began in the early seventeenth century. Third, the data i ndicate that the secular decline begins with the pioneers of the modernizat ion process, England and Holland, and slowly encompasses further regions. These findings corroborate much of the civilizing process framework propose d by Norbert Elias. Yet, the diffusion of self-control was sustained not on ly by compliance to the state monopoly of power but by a variety of discipl ining institutional arrangements. This includes, for example, the early exp ansion of schools, particularly in Northern Europe, the rise of religious r eform movements, and the organization of work in manufacturing. Second, whi le social disciplining certainly is the central feature of the early modern period, it also served to push forward the rise of the specifically modern individualism that Durkheim sees as the cause of the decline of individual -level violence.