Symbolic Violence : The Causes Of Symbolic Violence

In the 1960s, Johan Galtung posited the construct of violence as a phenomenon generated by the existence of social barriers that deny needs satisfaction in certain sectors of society. Galtung's conceptual framework illustrates the relationship between the structure of society and the inequalities experienced by its citizens. Gilman's seminal definition of structural violence reads, “physical and psychological harm that results from exploitive and unjust social, political, and economic systems” (1983, p. 8).

As Americans, living in a egotistical and self centered society, we often think that we are the best, the top 1 percent in every aspect. However, When compared to other countries of the world, America is ranked 14th in education, 44th in health care efficiency, and 101th in peace. But it ranks first in incarceration, 2nd in ignorance, and 3rd in global competitiveness. One can see how the rankings that America is top in are those that promote violence in one way or another. In the book Violence and Culture: A Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Approach by Jack David Eller, the author discusses violence in American society in one of his chapters. In this chapter, he mentions some social characteristics that represents and plays a role in

The article “The Ghetto Made Me Do It” comprises of context and analysis of the criminal case of Lisa Morgan. Lisa Morgan, a progenitor of the harsh ghetto is being convicted with six armed robberies and a murder, but this article questions if this happened because of her personal responsibility, or society’s responsibility, or lack thereof, to effectively handle young, black, and poor children. One particular attorney, Robin Shellow, goes into detail about exactly what Lisa had to go through. Her Mom shot her dad, her uncle was murdered, her sister’s boyfriend was shot and paralyzed from the neck down, she was raped at aged 12 (1). These are all things that Morgan had to face growing up. The author then introduces the idea of the “ghetto defense” The “ghetto defense” basically states that (in regards to Morgan’s case) “… violence is a norm, an occurrence so routine that Morgan’s 17 years of exposure to it have rendered her not responsible for her actions” (1).

Geoffrey Canada pens a book that is part biography, part social view, a very thoughtful look into inner-city violence and the rules surrounding it. The book describes how his personal history with violence influenced his work with youth and the programs that he has started to support them. Geoffrey Canada describes the progression of violence that had happened in his lifetime. He also points out that there is a disturbing difference between what the streets were like in the 1960s compared to those of today.

There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz tells the harrowing story of the Rivers family and their shocking experiences living in an underserved Chicago public housing project. The story focuses on Lafayette, a middle school aged boy discovering his identity, Pharoah, an elementary school aged boy with high ambition and goals, and their resilient mother LaJoe. Matza’s Techniques of Neutralization discuss how people can create rationalizations to justify delinquencies and crimes. Specifically applicable to There Are No Children Here is the theory of Denial of Responsibility which occurs when the perpetrator of an offense claims the situation was out of their control, they did not know the law, they were a victim of circumstance, or they were acted upon by outside forces rather than acting themselves. The second theory applicable to There Are No Children Here is Becker’s theory of Master Status. The theory of Master Status states that labels can take on a “master status” and can have an enormous influence and once you’ve been labeled, then define you. These theories aid in understanding how the pattern of violence and destruction is perpetuated in the projects of Chicago and the misfortune in the Rivers family.

Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.

The article “Race and Policing: Treat Black Men And Boys like Victims, too” written by Gene Demby; focuses on the matter how black people are more likely to become the perpetrator of crime instead of the victim. he researched on the matter. His article focused on the study by the two sociologist names Andrew Papachristos and Christopher Wildeman. The passage argues bout the fact that people focuses on the fact the black men and boy are get blamed for the crimes but people don’t focus on the part about they being the victim. the police department in the areas where the majority are black people do not seem to care about solving the crimes as much as other areas. In the essay it was mentioned that in an urban area in Chicago, where the majority

amount of the violence. My children at times were abused for defending me. I knew

Part biography, part social view, a very thoughtful look into inner-city violence and the rules surrounding it. This book describes how his personal history with violence influenced his work with youth and the programs that he has started to support youth. Geoffrey Canada describes the progression of violence that had happened in his lifetime. He also points out that there is a disturbing difference between what the streets were like in the 1960s compared to those of today.

According to the United States Census Bureau, about 14% of the population lives in poverty. African Americans make up the majority of the population that suffer from poverty, the rate is 24.1%. The second highest percentage is made up of the Hispanic population, at about 21.4%. There is no doubt that the majority of the population living in poverty is made up of minorities. “Whites” make up only about 9.1% of the population. Being poor is caused because of the criminal justice system failing to acknowledge the lack of equality within the system. The book argues that the only ones that are being punished are the “poor and dangerous”.

Perhaps a more frightening example, the boys in the gangs are harassed by the police. They are told that they are useless, hated, and inhuman. “Being fed a spoonful of hatred everyday” makes it hard not to start to believe these comments (Peralta, 2008). Once the individual begins to believe these comments, they begin to behave in ways to support these titles. This is how the young boys who vow to never participate in gang violence end up

In order to discuss the modes of violence inherent in any symbolic order, a discussion of violence must precede its effects. It is easy to observe what I will call ‘subjective’ violence; however, doing so taints an ‘objective’ assessment. By subjective violence, I mean acts that we can describe as breaking the status quo or utterly unacceptable; spewing a spit ball, punching a friend, engaging in armed conflict, and so on. Objective violence is the status quo, or systemic acts maintaining the existing order; profit schemes enabling the last recession, government institutions that motivate resistance, etc. For the sake of brevity, I only wish to note that I am conceptualizing the notion of violence in an operative sense, as, I believe, it is the only way to provide an effective critique of

Violence throughout our time has been evident ever since the beginning of our human species. From verbal to physical, one will not go through his/her lifetime without understanding the violent nature of other people. Richard Wilkinson brought up a point that “More unequal societies tend to be more violent” (Wilkinson 2). Wilkinson shows that there is a prominent correlation between income and homicide. Lower incomes shows higher rates of homicide. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens shows how violence can flourish due to the inequality seen in the lower classes. Dickens uses violence to portray that a society filled with inequalities can lead to violence.

Wolfgang and Ferracuti furthered the subculture of violence theory from the insights of cultural deviance theorists before them. Basing their theorizations entirely upon inferences from available statistics on homicide at that time, which illustrated a concentration of violent crime in primarily poor, racialized neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Through these statistics, the authors deduce that subcultural violence is a uniquely marginalized male phenomenon. Wolfgang and Ferracuti argue that violence is a

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).