Introduction ‘Our Scottish witch is a far more frightful being than her coadjutor on the south side of the Tweed’.[1] It is possible that the nature of the act of witch hunting, stems not from the reactive nature of human behaviour, but instead is a reflection of the witch herself. If witch hunting is to … Continue reading Using the North Berwick witch trials of the 1590s as a case study, do you agree with the proposition that witch hunting was rarely an uncontrollable or hysterical phenomenon?
Criminality and Deviance
What makes deviance?
Cresswell claims that deviance “is created through reactions . . . [and] when we concentrate on this aspect of deviance, the analysis of the process of labelling becomes more important than the characteristics of those who are so labelled.” Taking the witch as an example, to what extent do you agree with this contention? Historians, … Continue reading What makes deviance?
The Historian's Apprentice 