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Essay on structural violence
Essay on structural violence
Power and politics
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The term violence brings to memory an image of physical or emotional assault on a person. In most circumstances, the person affected due to violence is aware that a violent action has been performed on that person. There is another form of violence where the affected individual, in most cases are unaware of the violence inflicted upon them. These types of violence are termed as structural violence. Structural violence is a form of invisible violence setup by a well-defined system, to limit an individual’s development to his full potential, by using legal, political, social or cultural traditions (Winter and Leighton, 1).
The term structural violence was originally phrased by Johan Galtung, to highlight all the disadvantages faced by humans due to economic and political structures (Winter and Leighton, 1). Human beings lives within the boundaries of accepted norms, setup by society. Sometimes the society lays out the structure for living, in such a way that it hinders the person from growing to their full ability. This form of hindrances which stops the person from fully utilizing his potential due to intentional layout of a system or structure, by the society, can correctly be termed as structural violence. The authors of the article Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine explicitly brings out the meaning of the term structural violence. They specify that in a social setting “the arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people” (Farmer et al. 1). The system in order to restrain an individual will use legal framework, political ideology or social and cultural traditions.
According to 2006 PLoS medica...
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...d by enforcing restrictive social and cultural rules. Identifying and acknowledging the fact that certain systems are built to hinder a person’s development will go a long way in curbing the impact of structural violence.
Works Cited
Winter, DuNann Deborah and Dana C. Leighton “Structural violence.” Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century. Ed. D. J. Christie, R. V. Wagner, D. D. Winter , New York: Prentice-Hall, 2001. Print.
Farmer , Paul, Bruce Nizeye, Sara Stulac, Salmaan Keshavjee. “Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine.” PLoS Medicine, 1686-91. October 2006. Print
Holmes, Seth. “An Ethnographic Study of the Social Context of Migrant Health in the United States.” PLoS Medicine, 1776-93. October 2006. Print.
Parsons, Kenneth. “Structural Violence and Power.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 173–181, print.
Domestic violence can affect anyone. Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another through emotional attack, fear, and intimidation. Domestic violence or battering, often, includes the threat or use of violence; this violence is a crime. Battering occurs when one person believes he/she is entitled to control another. Domestic violence affects people in all social, economic, racial, religious, and ethnic groups; whether the couple is married, divorced, living together, or still dating. Another reality is that abusers and their victims can be gay, strait, young, or old. Violence develops from verbal, physical, emotional, financial, and sexual abuse. Most domestic violence victims are women by men, but that doesn’t suggest that others cannot be battered or are perpetrators of abuse -- such as women on men, or same sex abuse. Battering or domestic violence, is now mutual and it is not a ‘couple’s quarrel’. Disagreements arise occasionally in all relationships, but battering involves every aspect of a relationship. While physical violence is the “enforcer” or the criminal act, other behaviors erode the partner or victim’s sense of self, self-determination, and free will; this is ultimately lethal for many women.
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Domestic violence is a major problem in the United States. When most people think of domestic violence, they think of one person beating the other person in a relationship. Webster defines domestic violence as “the inflicting of physical injury by one family or household member on another.” Domestic violence has a major effect on children. Some people say that the violence has no effect, while others argue that the violence has a negative effect on children. Domestic violence scars children for the rest of their lives. Once children witness the act of violence, they are more likely to have problems throughout the rest of their lives. Domestic Violence has a negative effect on the way children behave, the way they learn, the careers they choose,
Domestic violence consists of verbal, financial, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse within the household, generally involving partners and families. This occurrence of violence is acted to gain and maintain control over somebody. Abusers have the tendency to enforce fear, guilt, shame and intimidation to brainwash and maintain power. The...
Tio Hardiman, the creator of the Violence Interrupters Program, said, “You can give them a history lesson. Your daddy was violent, your granddaddy was violent, and your great granddaddy was violent. And now your brothers are messed up because you misled them” (James et al., 2012). He is describing how violence is a learned behavior from your family and close peers. Hardiman goes on to tell a little about his own family’s history with violence. When he was fourteen, a man tried to hurt him in the streets, but his stepfather killed the man right in front of him, and he recalls feelings good about it. This family taught him violence was okay through their own
Garver, N. (1977). What is violence? In T. A. Mappes & J. S. Zembaty (Eds.), Social Ethics.
Because of the use of numerous readings we were able to discuss and have a meaningful understanding of interpersonal violence including intimate partner violence, stranger violence and child abuse. This paper showed the differences in male/female offenders and victims and showed different crimes. These studies proved that things change throughout the years; such as who the offender and victim are, what makes them offenders of victims and the places and crimes committed.
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Porter, Elisabeth. "The Harm Of Dualism." Peace Review 17.2/3 (2005): 231-237. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
"Did people who committed acts of violence think their victims and their victims' relatives would just forget? Didn't people see? How violence went on and on like a terrible wheel? Could you stand in front of a wheel to make it stop?" (235).
DuNann Winter, D., & Leighton, D. C. (2001 ). Structural Violence . Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st. New York : Prentice-Hall.
Galtung, J. (1996) Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and civilization. London: Sages Productions.
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