Execution rituals forged solidarity between the people and petty offenders against power
Evidence
But above all – and this was why these disadvantages became a political danger – the people never felt closer to those who paid the penalty than in those rituals intended to show the horror of the crime and the invincibility of power; never did the people feel more threatened, like them, by a legal violence exercised without moderation or restraint. The solidarity of a whole section of the population with those we would call petty offenders – vagrants, false beggars, the indigent poor, pickpockets, receivers and dealers in stolen goods – was constantly expressed: resistance to police searches, the pursuit of informers, attacks on the watch or inspectors provide abundant evidence of this (cf. Richet, 118–19). — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 101; Public executions let condemned criminals reversibly become heroes who mock authority — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 116; Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118 (+5 more)
Related
- Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd (similarity 0.85)
- Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice. (similarity 0.85)
- Public executions let condemned criminals reversibly become heroes who mock authority (similarity 0.84)
- Public executions failed to frighten the people and so reformers demanded their abolition (similarity 0.84)
- Rather than displaying sovereign power, executions staged a reversible duel between executioner and people (similarity 0.83)
- Execution rituals were explicitly military displays of armed justice. (similarity 0.83)
- Public execution reactivates injured sovereign power rather than restoring justice. (similarity 0.82)
- Public executions taught the people that violence could be met with violence (similarity 0.81)
- The executioner personified the sovereign’s answering violence against the criminal. (similarity 0.79)
- Public executions required a witnessing crowd to constitute their meaning and effect (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- The punished body anchors sovereign power’s manifestation
#qualifies(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 110 - Painful shared rituals can unite people across ethnic lines
#corroborates(0.78) - Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd
#complicates(0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118 - Rather than displaying sovereign power, executions staged a reversible duel between executioner and people
#responds-to(0.72) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 119