War And Peace, By Nancy Scheper Hughes And Philippe

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).

“The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world” (Arendt pg 80). Violence is contagious, like a disease, which will destroy nations and our morals as human beings. Each individual has his or her own definition of violence and when it is acceptable or ethical to use it. Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Benjamin, and Hannah Arendt are among the many that wrote about the different facets of violence, in what cases it is ethical, the role we as individuals play in this violent society and the political aspects behind our violence.

Imagine going to war right after graduating high school. How would you feel if you or your friends had to go to war right after graduating? How do you think a war would impact your life if you had to go to war right after graduating? War plays a key role in the story, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. Throughout A Separate Peace, the outcome of the war is showcased. The impacts of war can be overwhelming and disheartening but can also be beneficial for some individuals. War is capable of completely changing an individual's life. In A Separate Peace, this message is seen when war impacts Phineas, Leper, and Gene remarkably.

Violence is one of the most exaggerated forms of physical aggression and it can exist for a series of reasons. It involves a person or a group of persons acting against another person or groups of persons with the purpose to achieve one or several diverse goals. In many cases violence results from individuals perceiving the acts of other people as hostile and thus wanting to act against these people before it is too late. Depending on the situation, more or less individuals might get involved in an act of violence, especially when they consider that it would be essential for them to do so.

The non-fiction article, “Children of War” by Arthur Brice is about four children who were forced to flee war and relocate to the U.S. First off, children in warzones are not a big part of what caused the wars, but are still heavily, negatively affected. For many, life was great and jolly for children before times of war, but when war came about it changed their lives, they lived in fear and terror. They lost family, money, and most devastating, their homes. So they were forced to flee, to many countries around the world, but ultimately they came to the United States. At first life was tricky in the U.S, they struggled with language, culture, and homesickness. Although these teens are living in the U.S today, they hope to go back to their

In Cohen’s article,“Culture, Social Organization, and Patterns of Violence,” he examined a study, based on the use of violence. Whether it was seen as more culturally appropriate within South and West communities as opposed to less violence seen in tighter, more organized states within the North, he stated that it is a trend of commonplace within these areas and communities following this norm as it is part of that area 's

In this TEDTalk, Steven Pinker introduced an interesting trend in societal violence. The talk began by presenting fax that showed a dramatic decrease in the amount of violent crime beginning as far back as the earliest human hunter-gatherers. In many places during that time period, the chances of dying at the hands of another human were as high is sixty percent. Although the media and people tend to believe we are living in a time of extreme violence, we are actually living during one of the most peaceful times in human history. Even though the 20th Century witnessed tragedies such as the Holocaust, Rwanda, Stalin’s mass executions, and two World Wars, the chances of a human by violent means was less than three percent.

For quite a while, American warriors watched out for a movement of stations in what was perhaps the most opposing corner in all of Afghanistan. The spot was the Korengal Valley, which opens out underneath the terraced edges of Kunar Province around 25 miles from the periphery with Pakistan. The contemplation was to put Americans on the ground to catch Taliban warriors who were traveling through in order to fight in diverse parts of the country. “War” by Sebastian Junger, not only brings to life the scenarios of war and its effects, but also reveals the camaraderie between soldiers.

Most violent acts committed in modern times are seen as unthinkable and heinous. Today’s culture appears to be at its most serene and peaceful. However, this may not be true. Today’s culture is still one of extreme violence and is comparable to some of history’s most horrific times. Over the course of history, violence in culture has been in fluctuation but has always been considerably aggressive. Modern violent culture is comparable to history’s as society’s forms of entertainment are still violent, racial, domestic, and religious. Disputes still occur and lastly, war and cruel punishments still exist in the world. Fortunately, there is hope as violence, although still existing, seems to be improving and slowly diminishing.

Galtung, (1990) taxonomic view of violence and pragmatic solutions address cultural violence as “any aspect of a culture that can be used to legitimize violence in its direct, or

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

The history of human nature has been bloody, painful, and even destructive. Nonetheless, before understanding their environments humans used to kill each other based on their own mindset on the ideal of violence, and what it actually meant. Pinker describes narratives of violent acts from the past, that today are foreign to us. He gives us a tour of the historical human violence and how the violence in human nature has changed throughout time. The main idea from Pinker’s book,“The Better Angels of Our Nature ', is “for all the dangers we face today, the dangers of yesterday were even worse.” He provides its readers with explicit violent stories beginning from 8000 BCE to now, and describes how violence has evolved from a blood lost to more of a peaceful existence.

Violence is something that will always be there, whether it be right up in your face, on a battlefield, or creeping in the darkness, sowing the seeds of despair and resentment in humanity’s hearts, forever changing the landscape of your life to come. Violence has vigorously torn apart relationships that have lasted centuries, all because of a single gunshot, which has led to massive bloodshed, and the loss of many loved ones. Violence is a part of a cycle that is necessary in life, but would rather be avoided, which is why I am here, to help diminish that cycle of hatred, through the power of prevention through education, and self control.

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).

As I tried to conceptualize the idea of violence and what it means, physical force such as: assault, bullying, abuse, rape, murder, war, terrorism, genocide amongst many more came to mind. However, what is considered violence depends on the social context and the type of violence described, because as we have learned in class so far, “Violence is Relative.” So what really is violence? There is not an easy explanation of the term without taking into consideration that violence can not only be physical but also psychological, emotional, and verbal. I believe violence to be a form of expressed aggression either physical, psychological, emotional, and verbal showcased by an individual. In the paper we will discuss how violence can be viewed as