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Deviance in pre-modern society
Definitions of deviance
What is deviance?
How defined in pre-modern (c.1750) period?
Broad definition – religious, sexual, social
Transgression of Church’s moral strictures
How much concealed from the historian’s view?
Identification of deviant behaviour common to all societies
• Suspect and threatening
• Appearance, beliefs and/or lifestyle
• Marginalisation, ostracisation, persecution of individuals or groups
• Common stereotypes: sexual depravity, criminality, anti-social behaviour
• Metaphors of sin, pollution, disease
• Cf ‘terrorists’ (Dillinger, 2004)
Role of the courts/legislation
auto da fe = show trial Official treatment of deviants
• Fluctuations• Ecclesiastical e.g.
Spanish Inquisition• Secular courts often
harsher (will execute)• Could be surprisingly
lenient• Social relations >
heightened tension in post 1500 period
Treatment of the ‘Other’
• Diverse societies: minorities integrated
• Expulsions > mobile communities
• Refugees/diaspora especially by early modern period (post 1500) e.g. moriscos, Huguenots
• Scapegoating
Socially marginal and mobile
Gypsies by Callot c. 1621 C16th and C17th
• Fear of vagrants on increase
• Criminal gangs imagined• Gypsy/Roma people
suspect• Social stability and
hierarchy central
Social stigmatisation
Executioner (C16th)Dishonourable trades
• Played important socio-economic role
• Ostracised from polite society
• Excluded from citizenship• Physically and socially
marginalised• Developed own
subculture/networks• Definition of ‘margins’?
(Milner)
Treatment of diseased
Fear of contamination:•Leprosy•Plague•Syphilis•Mental illness•Lunacy•Also strong metaphorical use re deviant groups
Monstrous births: source of fascination & horror
‘Monk calf’
(C16th Germany)‘Barking monster’
(C18th England)
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