Rohloff RQ
1. The author is attempting to add another theoretical aspect to the moral concept through the use of the work of Norbert Elias. Explain 'civilizing process' and 'decivilizing process'.
Civilizing process can be explained in terms of civilization. The normative concept of civilization involves the process whereby one group of people come to see themselves as more 'civilized' than another group of people, thereby enabling these self-identified 'civilized' people to commit acts that at other times would be seen as 'uncivilized'. Elias also argued that this process "is in part dependent upon a gradual stabilization of a central state authority, with n associated state monopolization over the forces of violence and taxation" (74). Once a central state authority gains this monopolization over violence and taxation, people become increasingly integrated and interdependent with one another. These changes in return create pressures towards changes in behavior, mutual identification and increased self-restraint, thus creating stable behaviors and relations between people.
In contrast, decivilizing processes are what happens when civilizing processes go into reverse. An example of one of these reversals is a rise in the level of danger and a fall in its calculability. In other words, when danger becomes more incalculable, people's behavior changes as well. An increase in danger or violence is not necessary in the decivilizing process. Instead, the perception of an increase in violence or danger can affect the development of other decivilizing trends.
2. How does the topic of climate change exemplify the author's thesis in the chapter?
Amanda Rohloff includes climate change to illustrate many of her points made throughout the chapter. She also explains climate change in terms of a moral panic and how it can be linked to both civilizing and decivilizing processes. As in other topics, there is a lot of criticism involved with the issue of global warming. For example, when Rohloff wrote an article connecting the topics of climate change and moral panic, she was immediately labeled as skeptical by critics. Campaigns and groups fighting to reduce environmental damages can be viewed as civilizing offenses. However, Rohloff explains that these goals can create a decivilizing process as well. Instead of focusing on a biased feature, climate control can be viewed as an issue of different discourses.
