How did the significance of interpersonal violence change in the Western world over the past centuries? How can we explain these changes? – these are the overriding questions of this study. I rely, first of all, on Norbert Elias' civilisation theory and his figurational paradigm. In the last few decades, historians of crime have almost entirely confi rmed the relevance of the Eliasian violence-control thesis. However, while Elias convincingly explores several key elements of the civilising process, he does not ascribe due importance to the gender order in the intimate sphere. On the basis of the sentiments approach-literature I intend to prove that, from the 17th century onwards, the centre of family-life shifts from paternal authority to maternal care, mutual sentiments, and psychological harmonization, and the ethos of romantic love becomes the foundation of marriage. Consequently, while the power of the female agent increases, the legitimacy of masculine violence monopoly decreases. Th is process implies that man had to control his violent impulses also in the intimate sphere, and to incorporate dispositional elements that were associated with women in previous millennia. Thus, the growing psychologisation and pacifi cation of social life is not independent of the radical transformation of the gender order in the intimate sphere.

Keywords: Civilising Process, Violence Control, Homicides, Intimate Sphere, Gender Order, Pacification, Psychologisation, Female Agent

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In this paper we offer a short introduction to Elias's 'lost' research project, undertaken while he was at Leicester in the early 1960s, on The Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles. Through archive research, and the discovery of lost interview schedules, we have pieced together the background to the project and Elias's theoretical position about youth. We outline part of his theoretical model focusing on his shock hypothesis and the separation of children from the world of adults.
Keywords: Norbert Elias, Adjustment to Work, Shock Hypothesis, Young Worker Project

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The overall diffusion of foodstuff s, dishes and cooking styles of foreign origin, which are partially or entirely regarded as exotic, constitutes one of the most conspicuous phenomena of cultural globalization. Th e multicultural diversifi cation of food supply is intertwined, among other things, with a shift in the sources of immigration and the transformation of modes of social integration typically expected from immigrants, the growth of tourism to the third world and its presence in the media, the production and trade of exotic ingredients, as well as the phenomenon of "omnivorousness" id entifi able in all forms of cultural consumption. Nevertheless, similar global processes have already shaped the foodways of distant but relatively well-connected societies and social groups for centuries. The article examines earlier forms of culinary globalization and attempts to identify their diff erences from the present one through the analysis of changes in the use of spices, especially hot spices. It describes the characteristics of fl avouring food in Middle Ages and its divergence from modern culinary taste as perceivable from the seventeenth century onwards and now undergoing radical changes again; then, concentrating on one single spice, chilli pepper, the article reconstructs the processes of its early diff usion and those of its becoming an exotic, as well as a national (multinational) seasoning. 

Keywords: Use of Spices, Heterophilous Diffusion, Culinary Taste, Culinary Globalisation, Food Culture

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This paper examines how applicable is Norbert Elias's established-outsider fi gurational theory for explaining the situation of Hungarian Roma migrants in Canada and in the UK. It explores how this theory can contribute to our understanding of the exclusionary „stranger-making" attitudes towards Roma in the examined two settings, not only from the part of the host society, but also among Roma migrants themselves. Th rough outlining the first results of a pilot study of a long-run migration study, based on ethnographic fieldwork in a Canadian metropolis and a British industrial city, the paper illustrates the interplay of diff erent levels of established-outsider fi gurations. It demonstrates the process through which a fi rst 'invisible' minority group becomes a 'visible' migrant group, perceived as a threat for the host society's security and well-being. After outlining the latest chapter of the Canadian and British migration stories of the Hungarian Roma people, the paper concentrates on how the Roma migrants themselves construct their own discriminatory and exclusionary mechanisms inside their own group. Th ey separate the „lowest of the low" group of the Gypsies – called „scavanger" or „Vlah Gypsies" - from themselves in their fear of being lumped together with the latter, and as a result never reaching the desired 'established' position.
Keywords: Established and Outsiders, Figurational Theory, Migration, Roma, Mechanisms of Distinction, Migration to Canada and to the UK

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