«L'honneur » : une société de défis au XIXe siècle

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"Honour" : a society of challenges in the 19th century This article takes the form of a study of challenges to honour practised in the ostal society in the 19th century Gevaudan on the occasion of social competition in connection with marriage. The analysis is based on neighbourhood accounts consigned to the legal archives in the course of investigations conducted by the gendarmerie. In preparation for future alliance, and with a view to maximizing their chances of success, the ostals launch a series of challenges to rival houses by casting public aspersions, by means of appropriate gestures and acts, on their reputation and on their ability to preserve their "property", while at the same time taking self-defensive measures to protect the secrecy of their own private life and practicing ostentatious intimidation. This system is evidence of the vital importance of alliance as a mean of reproducing a system of values which in turn serves to guarantee social conformity, since non-conformist behaviour may be used against an adversary in order to dishonour him : conformity being strictly required of everyone.Claverie Élisabeth. « L'honneur » : une société de défis au XIXe siècle. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 34ᵉ année, N. 4, 1979. pp. 744-759

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