Vehicular Homicide in France in the Equine Era: Were Distracted Driving and Road Rage Decivilizing Consequences of the Civilizing Process in the 1840s?

• NCJ Number: 239743
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2012 Pages: 151-174
• Author(s): Hugh P. Whitt; Grant E. Tietjen
• Date Published: May 2012
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article explores the relationships of modernization and urbanization to highway deaths.

Abstract

Contrary to what would be expected from Norbert Elias, whose theory of the civilizing process links criminal violence to impulsivity, data from the Comptes generaux de l'administration de la justice criminelle en France show that rates of homicide due to imprudence in controlling a horse or cart increased with modernization across departements early in the 19th century. Drawing on work by Elias and others, the authors suggest an interpretation based on traffic congestion and changes in the social construction of time as Western societies became more modernized and urbanized. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage Journals.