A historical review of aggression in western culture, primarily concerned with aggression in Medieval society as compared with contempoary society. Although aggression, as all emotions, may be abstracted from the whole, it is perceived as only one aspect of the total person. Therefore, a change in the "drive to aggression" will produce a change in "the total patterning of the personality structure." During the Middle Ages, the every-day use of aggression was one of "the joys of living" as documented by chroniclers of the era, as well as life histories such as Mathieu d'Escouchy of the fifteenth century, & the record of St. John's Day festivities in the sixteenth century. Through "the civilizing process," the use of aggression in contemporary society has been "restricted & restrained." These changes have been effected in "personality structures" as well as the "overall structure of society." L. Milner

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Sociological Abstracts