Revenge as Sanction and Solidarity Display: An Analysis of Vendettas in Nineteenth-Century Corsica

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Abstract
Discussions of violence observe that dispute resolution in stateless societies often involves vengeance and collective responsibility for harm. These patterns are typically attributed to a distinctive cultural,world-view emphasizing collectivism. Collective hostility, is also a common theme in studies of stateless domains,within industrial societies, where it is seen as a social pathology: Yet vengeance can also be understood as a purposeful sanction against collective aggression, rather than as a culturally prescribed response in aggression in general. Court records from Corsica are used to assess the rate at which murder was avenged, the determinants of revenge, and patterns in the kin relationships involved. Vengenace was rare and typically occurred when the original incident involved collaboration or violence against nondisputants. Vengeance rarely extended beyond the nuclear family: When it did correspondingly distant kin of the original victim acted as avengers. Moreover, selection of vengeance targets Mas based on specific acts of solidarity, nor on abstract collective responsibility Accordingly, acts of revenge were calibrated to demonstrate that the aggrieved family's cohesiveness equalled that displayed by the offender's group. Viewed in this way, vendettas are highly strategic yet altruistic acts-calling into question the conventional notion that rational action is selfish.

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