Violence, War, and Hierarchy: Violent Capital

• In Event: 40210 - Violence, Interpretation, and the State: Authoritarian Strategies from Coercion to Consent

Abstract

This paper proposes the concept of violent capital as an analytic lens. Following the lead of Pierre Bourdieu on culture and cultural capital, I propose that we think of violence as sometimes mani-fested as an asset that can be exchanged for another asset or invested in institutional or status positions. Violence becomes more than an act shaped by organizations, ideologies, and networks (Malešević 2022)—it can be an asset actors use to navigate hierarchies of status and authority. To illustrate potential utility of the concept, this paper traces the evolution of the modern state using violent capital, not just coercion and capital. The sets of cases over time—antiquity (Sparta and Rome), medieval Europe (knights and chivalry), and modernity—suggest that the rise of the modern state is not simply variation in bureaucratic structures that organize coercion and capital. The evolution of the modern state also involves the compartmentalization of violent capital. This narrative thus suggests analytic possibilities for violent capital by expanding on the usual story of the rise of states as a function of coercion, capital, and discipline (Tilly 1992; Gorski 2003; Bour-dieu 1988, 2014).

Author

• Jeffrey Hass, University of Richmond