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Clothing, Sublimation, and the Enjoyment of War

  • Intergroup aggression occurs in many animal species but warfare has no clear non-human analogues. Among the features distinguishing war is that despite its obvious disadvantages and horrors, war enjoys enormous psychological appeal, illustrated by its entertainment value. The enjoyment of war presents a challenge for explanatory models, which range from adaptive scenarios in evolutionary paradigms to social learning and psychological drive theories. Further problems arise from findings in ethnography and archaeology. Among mobile hunter-gatherers who led traditional lifestyles, warfare was less common in socially non-complex contexts and, arguably, warfare was absent where people were routinely naked. In prehistory, warfare may be limited to the recent evolutionary past. A speculative formulation is outlined, positing a contributary role for sublimation, as a psychological effect of clothing. The proposed role of sublimation in the enjoyment of war allows for a more nuanced perspective on archaeological, ethnographic, and phenomenological evidence, suggesting warfare is not necessarily synonymous with intergroup aggression and its enjoyment could be contingent on the routine presence of clothing.

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Metadaten
Author:Ian Gilligan
Parent Title (English):Human Arenas (2024), 22 pp. [Online ISSN 2522-5804] [doi.org/10.1007/s42087-023-00397-9]
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2024
Release Date:2024/04/04
Format:PDF-file to download
IdNo:Gilligan_I_2024
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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