The Caged Virgin - Ayaan Hirsi Ali [83]
27 Frank Bovenkerk and Yucel Yesilgöz: F. Bovenkerk and Y. Yesilgöz, “Multiculturaliteit in de strafrechtpleging?” [“Multiculturalism in the administration of criminal justice?”], in Tijdschrift voor Beleid, Politiek en Maatschappij [Periodical for Policy Politics and Society], (1999) no. 4, p. 232.
28 This is not surprising: according to the two Italian researchers, Allievi and Castro, who attribute the lack of a deeper sociological analysis.
29 There is also very little sociological research: S. Allievi and F. Castro, “The Islamic presence in Italy: social rootedness and legal questions,” in S. Ferrari and A. Bradney (eds.), Islam and European Legal Systems, Vermont, 2000, p. 198. There seem to be no studies within the Islamic world of the sociogenesis and psychogenesis of Muslim culture, which are comparable to the work of the German sociologist Norbert Elias. On the basis of Elias’s theory of civilization, the process of social integration can be described as the creation of, more or less, mutually dependent situations in an ever more complex society. The psychological component of this social change tends toward the development of steady and automatic self-control, which helps people with the growing demands of life. This increased self-control is shown by the fact that over the centuries European manners and morals have become more relaxed and refined. Initially social institutions imposed new codes of conduct, but over time this process became internalized. According to Elias, this trend began during the early Middle Ages, when—as they were forced to stay at the court—the free and independent knights gradually became dependent on the king. Here they learned to control their feelings and to be diplomatic. This court culture was at first imitated by the higher classes and spread to large sections of the population in the course of the twentieth century, following a big push for civilization. This did not just happen “of its own accord.” Laborers and peasants were forced to adjust to the demands of a modern industrial society (through among other things, the introduction of compulsory military service and education, through having to learn the standard language, et cetera). N. Elias, Het civilisatieproces: Sociogenetische en psychogenetische onderzoekingen [The process of civilization: Socio-genetic and psycho-genetic investigations], Amsterdam, 2001 (1939).
30 The Islamic identity (view of mankind and the world): Pryce-Jones defines the specific concept of honor in the Islamic world as follows: “Honor is what makes life worthwile: shame is a living death, not to be endured, requiring that it be avenged. Honor involves recognition, the openly acknowledged esteem of others which render a person secure and important in his or her own eyes and in front of everyone else. […] Honor and its recognition set up the strongest possible patterns of conduct, in a hierarchy of deference and respect.” (Pryce-Jones, The closed circle, 1989, p. 35).
31 And marrying family members: The recently published Arab Human Development Report evaluates the demographic situation in 22 Arab countries. The total population of these countries amounts to 280 million, of which 38 percent are between the ages of 0 and 14, and only 6 percent are over 60. The report offers two possible scenarios for the future until 2020. According to the first scenario, the Arab population will reach an estimated 459 million by 2020; the second predicts 410 million. UNDP, Arab Human Development Report, New York, 2002, p. 37.
32 This premodern culture closely resembles: which was developed by Jan Romein. Van der Loo and Van Reijen summarize the