The Uncivilizing Process of the West and Burgess’s Suggestion for Stopping this Process in a Clockwork Orange

Öz

 Western societies assume themselves more civilized than the other countries. However, 

the Second World War and the atom bomb lead some scholars to question this  

assumption. This paper argues that Burgess witnessing the increase in the teenage  

violence is uneasy about the future of Western civilization. In A Clockwork Orange set 

in England in the near future, Burgess presents that the increase in teenage violence may 

result in state violence; some precautions taken by the state may violate human rights 

which have been accepted as a new standard of civilization after the Second World 

War, and some people thinking that the state does not punish the teenagers perpetrating 

violence adequately may attempt to lynch them. This paper aims at discussing that the 

teenage violence and the state violence depicted in the novel may be the indications 

of an uncivilizing process for Burgess. Burgess displays as well that although the 

teenagers using violence are, in fact, in need of affection and care, and they need the 

guidance of  their parents, the parents do not care for their teenage children since they 

are busy with earning money. The paper concludes that in this novel Burgess warns his 

readers that they should not expect the state to put an end to this uncivilizing process as the state may become totalitarian and suggests that parents may bring this process to an 

end by caring about their children.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Burgess,A Clockwork Orange,civilization,uncivilizing process

The Uncivilizing Process of the West and Burgess’s Suggestion for Stopping this Process in a Clockwork Orange

Öz

Western societies assume themselves more civilized than the other countries. However, 

the Second World War and the atom bomb lead some scholars to question this  

assumption. This paper argues that Burgess witnessing the increase in the teenage  

violence is uneasy about the future of Western civilization. In A Clockwork Orange set 

in England in the near future, Burgess presents that the increase in teenage violence may 

result in state violence; some precautions taken by the state may violate human rights 

which have been accepted as a new standard of civilization after the Second World 

War, and some people thinking that the state does not punish the teenagers perpetrating 

violence adequately may attempt to lynch them. This paper aims at discussing that the 

teenage violence and the state violence depicted in the novel may be the indications 

of an uncivilizing process for Burgess. Burgess displays as well that although the 

teenagers using violence are, in fact, in need of affection and care, and they need the 

guidance of  their parents, the parents do not care for their teenage children since they 

are busy with earning money. The paper concludes that in this novel Burgess warns his 

readers that they should not expect the state to put an end to this uncivilizing process as the state may become totalitarian and suggests that parents may bring this process to an 

end by caring about their children.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Burgess,A Clockwork Orange,civilization,uncivilizing process

Kaynakça

1. Biswell, A. (2013). Introduction. A clockwork orange (pp. xv-xxxi). London: Penguin.
2. Bull, H. (1984). Foreword. The standard of ‘civilization’ in international society (pp. vii-x). Oxford: OUP.
3. Burgess, A. (1962/2013). A clockwork orange (Restored edition). London: Penguin.
4. (1972/2013). Clockwork marmalade. A clockwork orange (Restored edition) (pp. 245-251). London: Penguin. (First published in Listener in 1972).
5. Cross, R. J. (1998). The Teddy boy as a scapegoat. Doshisha Studies in Language and Culture, 1(2), 263-291. Retrieved from Google Scholar on 10.06.2017.
6. Donnelly, J. (1998). Human rights: a new standard of civilization?. International Affairs, 74(1), 1–23. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.00001
7. Elias, N. (1939/1994). The civilizing process: the history of manners and state formation and civilization. (E. Jephcott trans.) Oxford: Blackwell.
8. Gong, G. W. (1984). The standard of ‘civilization’ in international society. Oxford: OUP.

9. Hirsch, L. E. (2007). Weaponizing classical music: crime prevention and symbolic power in the age of repetition. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 19(4), pp.342-358. doi: 10.1111/j.1533- 1598.2007.00132.x
10. Krejčí, J. (2004). The paths of civilization: understanding of the currents of history. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
11. Mitchell, G. A. M. (2013). From “rock” to “beat”: towards a reappraisal of British popular music, 1958-1962. Popular Music and Society, 36(2), pp.194-215. doi: 10.1080/03007766.681546.
12. Pratt, J. (2011). Norbert Elias, the civilizing process and penal development in modern society. The Sociological Review, 59(1), 220-240. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.01986.x
13. Electronic sources
14. Hanoch-Roe, G. (2002). Beethoven’s “Ninth”: an ‘ode to choice’ as presented in Stanley Kubrick’s a Clockwork Orange. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music”, 33(2),171-179. http://www.jstor.org/stable 4149775. Accessed: 07.07.2017.
15. Höyng, P. (2011). Ambiguities of violence in Beethoven’s Ninth through the eyes of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The German Quarterly,84(2), 159-176. doi:https://doi.org.10.1111/j.1756-1183.2011.00109.x
16. http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ Rutherford, J. (2002). Juvenile justice caught between the exorcist and a clockwork orange. DePaul Law Review, 51(3), 715-742. http://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol51/iss3/4.
17. Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today. New York: Routledge.