The Control of Anger

A history of the growing restraint of anger, as a significant theme in American history, may come as a surprise. Reflecting the long campaign against anger, Americans rated anger control as one of the most important personal characteristics in an exhaustive late 1970s survey of national attitudes. Continuity established, it is obvious that there have been important variations on the theme. The importance of major chronological periods in the campaign against anger must be emphasized. The rise of the managerial approach to anger, and its extension to the workplace, raised the problem of outlets to new levels, at least for men. An important subset of familial anger, measurably more intense, is divorce itself as a ritual that legitimizes the expression of anger. The effort to develop acceptable outlets for anger—acceptable because legitimate or private or both—forms an important thread in modern American history, particularly the history of the last half century.