The Fall Of Honor Killings In England

As English culture became more individualized as it industrialized and urbanized, the culture of honor there declined in importance. This led to reduced homicide rates because individual disputes were less lethal than clan supported blood feuds. Cultures of honor are associated with weak states, so as the state grew stronger, this clan orientation towards society declined. The trend continued well after 1750, however. Indeed, the decline of cultures of honor may have been a necessary antecedent to industrialization.

Steven Pinker is the most recent high profile social scientist to observe this trend, although he doesn't necessarily formulate it the same way. 

It also supports the observation of Hobbs that the state of nature for mankind is "nasty, brutish and short." This is contrary to liberal, utopian, anarchist, and libertarian ideas (including idealize visions of Native American life and life in other indigenous societies) as mankind being innocent, and a peace within itself and with Nature.

Other scholars have pointed, ironically, to war as a major source of growing social cohesion as societies have had to be a unified "us" against military "them" threats, to prevail in conflicts and survive as societal models.

The abstract and paper containing a new analysis of this trend is found below:

A key issue in criminology is to account for variation in rates of violence across time and place. An important variable largely neglected in the literature is individualism. Building on theoretical ideas proposed by Durkheim, Black, and Baumgartner, we illustrate the role of increased individualism with a case study: the decline of homicide in England, 1250–1750. 

The qualitative historical materials we present reveal the growth of more individualized conflicts evident in less third-party partisan intervention and a reduced concern with honor. More individualized conflicts were, in turn, a product of a more individualized society, one characterized by increased social distance and mobility. As conflicts individualized they became less lethal, resulting in declining aggregate rates of homicide. 

Although the case study is historical, our argument has implications for understanding contemporary criminal violence.

MarkCooney, JefferyPatterson "Individualization and the decline of homicide: England 1250–1750" Journal of Criminal Justice (November 3, 2022) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2022.101997

Body text excerpts:

The English homicide decline

Scholars of the past have proposed that over several centuries homicide rates across Western Europe declined steeply. Drawing on a variety of historical sources, Elias (1939: 190-217) described a reduction in European violence from the Middle Ages. After Gurr (1981) assembled some more systematic data showing a steep drop off in English homicide rates historians began to uncover a similar pattern in other regions of Europe, including Scandinavia (Sweden and Finland), Belgium, the Netherlands, 

The individualization of conflict

The decline in third-party participation we call the individualization of conflict. Instead of drawing in outsiders either as loyal partisans or as members of an audience who must be impressed, conflicts increasingly involve the two principals alone. First, consider partisanship. 

The individualization of society

Conflict individualized because society at large did so, too. Over time, a process of individualization expanded the capacity of people to act independently of groups, institutions, and other people. No person or group is entirely free of all social ties or obligations: pure individualism is never found in practice. Nonetheless, as scholars across multiple disciplines have observed, individualism is a variable aspect of social life (see, e.g., Lukes, 1973). 

Conclusion

“The family that slays together stays together” is a familiar idea among historians of violence (see, e.g., Hanawalt, 1974: 16). Combining ideas from Durkheim, Baumgartner, and, especially, Black, we would reverse that aphorism: the family that stayed together slayed together. But the primordial social ties of both family and community weakened over time. As social distance and mobility increased third parties became less willing to settle disputes but, more important, less willing to support.