I’ve recently read “The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined” by Stephen Pinker. The author’s contention is that a plethora of civilizing influences such as the rule of law replacing vendetta, humanistic education and the complex socio-political inter-relationships caused by commerce have caused a general decline in violence worldwide. Your chances of getting murdered were much more in 1700 than today.
While this may be hard to believe, given the accounts of
sexual assault and homicide that greet us in the daily newspapers every
morning, I think that Pinker might be on to something. To be fair, the author makes explicit that
social violence has declined, but not uniformly worldwide, and is still far
from completely extinct. The level of decline also depends on how evolved a
society is and how far removed from tribalism it is. Pinker also makes the
point that if the conditions that caused this decline are reversed, violence
could well enjoy a late resurgence.
A British hippie in his late teens recalled trekking through
Afghanistan post-Soviet occupation. The Pashtuns were uniformly hospitable,
despite historic memories of imperial Britain’s ill-fated attempts to assert
dominance over the country. The tribal elders who hosted the Briton all wanted
to know how many guns were owned by his family, whether they had any blood feuds
going on with their neighbours in the UK, and how many people had he personally
killed so far?
The sheepish response to all of the above was “NO”. This answer
was met with general disbelief. How could anyone possibly live like this?
The trouble is that the above mindset (or something
approximating it) is also quite prevalent in India, but based on caste rather
than tribe. But even then there’s still some hope...
For example, the constant warring between the princely
kingdoms of old Rajputana is now a thing of the past. Historically, the
kingdoms of ancient India were always at war with each other – remember the
bloodbath of the Kalinga war that turned the Emperor Ashoka towards Buddhism
and pacifism?
Present states of the modern Indian union are unlikely to go
to war against each other today as (a) the constitution doesn’t grant them any
military capabilities and (b) the evolution of Indian politics has led to
inter-state disputes being subject to adjudication. So it seems that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
will not be declaring war over the Cauvery river any time soon.
A colleague from college days involved in student politics
declared the movie “Rajneeti” didn’t accurately depict the current state of
political violence, with incidents of political assassination, bomb-throwing,
booth capturing and criminal intimidation of voters having actually declined in
fact, and being nowhere near the shocking levels depicted in the film.
Violence as an instrument of politics is becoming
increasingly counter-productive too; the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Godhra
carnage of 2002 keep returning to haunt the parties responsible. And
unacceptably high levels of violence in Uttar Pradesh could write finis to the present state government
there...
I'm not a fan of Pinker but the claim seems to be partially right. We are getting along better on a local scale (neighborhood level). On a non-local scale, we seem to be as busy with wars as ever. I don't hold with his reasons. It's basically a camouflaged way of saying western social models from the last 300 or 400 years have reduced violence globally. On the other hand, most human development stats seem to be improving. Check out the work of the economist Julian Simon (The Ultimate Resource). Unlike Pinker, Simon is a humane, non-reductionist thinker.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pinker. As we all know and as ancient texts reveal, there was a stunning lack of regard for human life. In the Bible, the supposed source of all our moral values for a third of the world’s population, the Hebrews are urged by God to slaughter every last resident of an invaded city. “Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites,” reads a typical passage in the book of Samuel. “Make war on them until you have wiped them out.” The Bible also prescribes death by stoning as the penalty for a long list of nonviolent infractions, including idolatry, blasphemy, homosexuality, adultery, disrespecting one’s parents, and picking up sticks on the Sabbath. The Hebrews, of course, were no more murderous than other tribes; one also finds frequent boasts of torture and genocide in the early histories of the Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Chinese. But over the ages, we can see a steady reduction in socially sanctioned forms of violence. Thank god for modernity!
ReplyDeleteThe evidence offered by Pinker seems mostly anecdotal. It is a complex question whether violence has actually declined. Important to ask is what constitutes violence? Is it only war..or has violence assumed new forms? An empirical study to measure the rate of violence per 1000 people over say last 100 years can only tell if violence has actually declined. I am sure there must be some study out there and I recall reading somewhere the global conflicts have not declined. However even if one were to establish that violence has declined historically say in india that will not give any comfort to citizens. For what people compare is with societies in similar times & context. Is violence higher than developed countries...why are we lagging behind?
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