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Politics and Gender in Crisis in David Underdown's “The Taming of the Scold”
Author(s) -
Weil Rachel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12054
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , politics , test (biology) , political crisis , psychology , psychoanalysis , sociology , political science , epistemology , criminology , social psychology , law , medicine , philosophy , paleontology , biology
Abstract David Underdown's 1985 essay “The Taming of the Scold” argues on the basis of an increase in the number of cucking stools and skimmingtons (both mechanisms for punishing unruly women) that there was a crisis in gender relations in the years around 1600. This article reviews the argument, describes the diverse historiographies with which it engages and contributes, and considers later attempts to test Underdown's claims empirically and the methodological questions which these attempts illuminate.