@article{af76f2e43f614c51817c1aeb3e7873d9,
title = "The sounds of executions: sonic flaws and the transformation of capital punishment",
abstract = "A robust literature addresses the historical transformation of executions, but it does so without attention to sound. To help us understand how the audible aspects of executions impacted these transformations, we develop a concept we call sonic flaws. Sonic flaws are characterized neither by their loudness nor their nuisance quality. Rather, sonic flaws are sounds that not only intrude upon but also undermine the social settings in which they are heard. As transgressions of not only the sonic but also the moral order, the notion of sonic flaws also captures sonic conflicts and resistances by sonic means. Based on an analysis of newspaper accounts of executions in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, we identify the construction of sonic flaws around three different types of sounds: sounds of emotions, sounds of death, and sounds of resistance. Most importantly, we show how managerial efforts to address sonic flaws turned the execution into a space guided by middle-class sensibilities and dominated by an aspiration for silence.",
keywords = "Death, Emotions, Executions, Resistance, Silence, Sound",
author = "Annulla Linders and Brittney Miles and Molly Broscoe and Jennifer Money",
note = "The research was made possible by support from the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati, and the Kunz Center for Social Research, Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, during which we benefitted from comments and questions by Sahan Savas Karatasli, Isaac Ariail Reed, Hector Vera, and Xiaohong Xu. We also thank Jana Braziel, Laura Jenkins, and Rina Williams for close readings, insights, and advice. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor, Philip Smith, for very constructive comments. The research was made possible by support from the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati, and the Kunz Center for Social Research, Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, during which we benefitted from comments and questions by Sahan Savas Karatasli, Isaac Ariail Reed, Hector Vera, and Xiaohong Xu. We also thank Jana Braziel, Laura Jenkins, and Rina Williams for close readings, insights, and advice. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor, Philip Smith, for very constructive comments.",
year = "2023",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1057/s41290-021-00150-1",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "11",
pages = "162--192",
journal = "American Journal of Cultural Sociology",
issn = "2049-7113",
publisher = "Springer International Publishing AG",
number = "2",
}