The Theatre of the Street

Public Violence in Antwerp During the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Series: 

Author:
Antoon Vrints
In The Theatre of the Street: Public Violence in Antwerp During the First Half of the Twentieth Century Antoon Vrints offers a historical analysis of the meanings and functions of street violence in a modern European city. Commonly perceived as the senseless outcome of social disintegration in urban contexts, public violence appears here as a meaningful strategy to settle conflicts informally.
Making use of Antwerp police records, Vrints shows that the prevailing discourse on public violence does not pass the test of empirical facts. The presumed correlation between the occurrence of public violence and the decline of neighbourhood life must even be reversed to some extent. The nature of public violence paradoxically points to the crucial importance of neighbourhood networks.
Copyright Year:
2020
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-41693-2
Publication:
02 Dec 2019
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-41692-5
Publication:
12 Dec 2019
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Antoon Vrints, Ph. D. (2006), Ghent University, is Associate Professor of Social History at that university. He has published monographs and many articles on the First World War and on crime and criminal justice history, including De overlevenden. De Belgische oud-strijders tijdens het interbellum (Polis, 2018).
List of Figure and Tables
List of Abbreviations

Introduction
 1 A Controversial Issue
 2 Violence as a Significant Social Phenomenon
 3 The Empirical Basis
 4 Structure of This Book

1 Life on a Stage
 1.1 Introduction
 1.2 A Public Existence
 1.3 Openness, Reputation and Reciprocity
 1.4 Honour Fights
 1.5 Between Self-Regulation and Disciplination by an Outside Agency
 1.6 Revenge, Social Standing and Violence
 1.7 Violence as a Means of Social Control?
 1.8 Domestic Squabbles and Respectability
 1.9 Sexual Violence, Shame and Discretion
 1.10 Conclusion

2 The Rules of the Game
 2.1 Ritual Interaction
 2.2 The Power of Language
 2.3 Expressive Body Language
 2.4 Violation and Defilement
 2.5 Territorial Strategies
 2.6 The Rules of the Duel
 2.7 Conclusion

3 Men’s and Women’s Roles
 3.1 Introduction
 3.2 Men and Women in Battle
 3.3 Men’s and Women’s Language
 3.4 Men’s and Women’s Places?
 3.5 Conclusion

4 Repertoires of Respectability
 4.1 Introduction
 4.2 Group-Specific Behavioural Patterns
 4.3 Shifts over Time?
 4.4 Possible Explanations for Behavioural Shifts
 4.5 Conclusion

5 Values behind Words
 5.1 Insults, Values and Identification
 5.2 The Sexual Reputation of Men and Women
 5.3 Purity and Respectability
 5.4 The Established and the Outsiders
 5.5 About “coward”, “thief” and Other Insults
 5.6 Conclusion: Substantive Stability?

General Conclusion
 1 Public Violence and Social Ties: a Theatre with a Message and an Audience
 2 Public Violence and Social Stratification: Theatre of the Common People
 3 Public Violence and Social Meaning: Honour and Shame at Stake
 4 Epilogue: Public Violence, from Theatre to Misunderstood Spectacle

Sources and Bibliography
Subjects
Modern Authors
All interested in the history of violence, social control and policing, and anyone concerned with urban history of western Europe.
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Publisher:
Brill
Language:
English
Pages:
approx. 422 pp.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004416932

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