Violence as Capital: Violent capital and the case of social hierarchies

This paper proposes violent capital as an analytic tool to explore violence and its relation to the social order. Following Pierre Bourdieu on cultural capital, I suggest we think of violence as a potential asset that can be invested in or exchanged for another asset, position, or status. After an introductory discussion of conceptualization and operationalization, and to bring the concept to life and suggest analytic utility, the paper turns to violent capital and hierarchies. Given the centrality of states to the history of violence (Tilly 1992; Mann 1986, 1993; North, Wallis, and Weingast 2009), examining violent capital and hierarchies provides further insights into the nature of states and state-building, and vice versa. The paper uses historical cases to show three different ways of the relation of violent capital to status, that also expand our understanding of the rise of the state: antiquity (Sparta and Rome), medieval Europe (knights), and modern armies. These cases reveal variation in how violent capital is invested and exchanged and in its value for hierarchies. These cases also suggest additional dimensions to the historical evolution of the modern state and “coercion” as more than resources for physical force: this evolution is also disciplining, compartmentalizing, and subordinating violent capital. The paper concludes with a research agenda and further potential analytic utility.