Feuding

Posing great danger to a society are family or lineage feuds.^{^[80]} These feuds seem to take place in societies larger than forager bands. They are most common among tribally organised groups.

Since tribes can split and reform, feuds tend to be intermediate forms of conflict. What might begin as an intragroup feud or revenge situation might evolve into a social split in which the original unit becomes two competing units. Feuds can last over generations and obviously weaken the overall society's ability to repel external enemies. Thus, mechanisms will exist to control or eliminate them. One solution is to force the payment of indemnity for past violence in order to end a feud. This is a large topic that is not covered further here, but it is an example of violence that tends to bridge the gap between personal violence and warfare.

In all these cases, the goal of the society at large is to minimise intra-group violent behaviour. On the one hand, others may fear getting involved or becoming victims, and, obviously, dead males and males that are prone to violence against each other do not make for a strong defence. This is important because among small-scale societies offensive action is usually undertaken by part of the group, whereas defence is undertaken by all. Every effort would be made to maximise each individual's defensive abilities, since failure to do so jeopardises all. Thus, male intra-group violence is an existential threat to all.

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Source: Fagan Garrett G., Fibiger Linda, Hudson Mark, Trundle Matthew (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume 1: The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds. Cambridge University Press,2020. — 756 p.. 2020

Feuding

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