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Violence  and  Development  
GOVT  3011  

 
Lecture  5  
 
Structural  and  Collective  Violence  

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Structural  Violence  

Structural  Violence  
…is  expressive  of  the  conditions  of  society  
the  structures  of  social  order  
the  institutional  arrangements  of  power  …  
that   reproduce   mass   violations   to   persons   in   society  
(  Barak,  2003).  

Structural  Violence  

…is   accomplished   in   part   through   “policies”   of  

informal   and   formal   denial   of   civil,   criminal,   and  
basic  human  rights  for  all  people.    
 

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Structural  Violence  

…..happens  in  the  context  of  establishing,  maintaining,  

extending,  or  reducing  hierarchical  relations    
or   as   a   consequence   of   the   hierarchical   order   of  
categories  of  people    
(Iadicola  &  Shupe,  1998).    

Structural  Violence  

Hierarchical   relationships   -­‐revolved   around   class,   gender,  

and  ethnic  or  racial  identity.    

Structural  Violence  

Dominant   positions   in   [the   United   States]   and   in   the   rest   of  

the   world   is   occupied   by   whites   of   European   ancestry,  
males,  capitalists  ….  
who   reside   in   countries   referred   to   as   the   center   of   the  
world   political   economy   (United   States,   Western   Europe,  
Japan,  Canada,  and  Australia).  
Iadicola  &  Shupe,  1998.    

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Structural  Violence  

DOMINATED  positions    
*  female,  ethnic  minority  group  members    
*  members  of  the  working  class  
*   or  another  subservient  position  within  a  subordinate  
mode  of  production  (peasantry)    
Iadicola  &  Shupe,  1998.    
 

Structural  Violence  

Globalization   -­‐increased   the   polarization   of   wealth   and  

income,intensified  disease,  poverty,  and  hunger—  
United  Nations  those    in  high-­‐income  countries  accounts  for  
86%  of  the  entire  world's  private  expenditures.    
At  the  same  time,  10s  of  millions  of  people  succumb  annually  
to  famine  and  preventable  diseases.    
 (Weiss,  2000,  p.  2).  
 

Structural  Violence  

Structural  violence  in  the  21st  century    

expressed   in   how   societies   naturally   organized   into  
independent-­‐dominant  and  dependent-­‐dominated  nations    
(Gregg,  2003).  

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Structural  Violence  

Five  representative  forms  of  structural  violence:  

*  Postcolonial  violence  
*  Corporate  violence  
*  Underclass  violence  
*  Terrorist  violence  
*  Institutional-­‐structural  violence  
(Gregg  Barak,  2003).  
 
 

Structural  Violence  

1.  Postcolonial  violence  

*  Before  mercantile  capitalism  in  the  12th  century,    
*  imperialism  the  driving  forces  among  nation-­‐states    
*  a  system  of  international  relations  
*  …refers   to   the   institutionalized   patterns   of  
domination  by  some  countries  over  other  countries..  

Structural  Violence  

The  result  of  these  relations  of  extreme  inequality    

*  human-­‐created  levels  of  poverty  
*  Hunger  
*  Famine  
*  …  and  violence  throughout  the  developing  world.    

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2.  Corporate  violence    
Includes  fatal  and  nonfatal  assaults  
Swiggert  &  Farrell,  1990  

Structural  Violence  

Corporate  Violence  
v Dangerous  factory  conditions  
v Polluted  air  
v Unsafe  motor  vehicles  
 
Swiggert  &  Farrell,  1990  

Structural  Violence  

Effects  of  corporate  violence:      

*  cancer  associated  with  environmental  pollution    
*  heart  and  lung  diseases  
*  birth  defects    
*  genetic  disorders  
*  sterility    

(Brownstein,  1981;  Regenstein,  1986).  

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Structural  Violence  

3.  Underclass  Violence  
*  marginal  and  powerless  persons    
*  Located  at    convergence  of  interpersonal,  institutional,  
and  structural  violence  in  society.  
*  Deprived   of   the   basic   opportunities   and   necessities   of  
life.  

Structural  Violence  

*  Girls   and   women   of   the   underclass   experience   more  

victimization  …    
*  Children  are  abused    
*  What   becomes   ordinary   and   normative   for   underclass  
females  ?.  

Structural  Violence  

4.  Terrorist  Violence  
*  ..numerous  definitions    
*  -­‐many   one-­‐sided,   biased,   or   politically   and   legally  
restrictive,    
*  indicting  some  behaviours  and  ignoring  others.    
*   “one  man's  terrorist  is  another  man's  freedom  fighter.”.  

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Structural  Violence  

5.  Institutional-­‐structural  violence    
*    product   of   political   and   economic   arrangements   working  
in  tandem.  
*  interests   of   the   political   economy   is   the   roots   of  
institutional-­‐structural  violence.    
*  ..the  intended  effect  of  maintaining  /extending  the:-­‐    
*  structures  of  dominance  
*  privileges   and   inequalities   which     accompany   such   order.  
(Gregg  Barak,  2003).  
 

Structural  Violence  

Youth  in  Crisis  –  

All   youths   are   in   danger   of   becoming   out   of   control   or  
contaminated  by  youth  violence.    
 
young   people   are   victims   first   and   perpetrators   second  
Cockburn  (1996)  

Structural  Violence  

Police-­‐industrial   or   the   penal-­‐industrial   complex-­‐  

suggestive   of   the   mutually   reinforcing   interests   and  
needs  of  state  and  economic  ruling  orders  (Mills,  1956).  
State   violence   has   been   directed   att   groups   who   have  
challenged  or  resisted  the  proverbial  status  quo.    
 

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Structural  Violence  

State   Dominance   -­‐   Covert   and   overt   interventions   of  

dominant   national   and   international   powers   into   the  
affairs  of  other  sovereign  nations.  
 

Structural  Violence  

Structural  forms  of  violence    intersect  and  interact    

with  interpersonal  and  institutional  forms  of  violence:  
v individuals   acting   outside   of   any   institutional   roles   to  
establish,   maintain,   extend,   or   reduce   privilege   and  
inequality  

v individuals   acting   in   accord   with   governmental   or   other  

institutional   policies   that   serve   to   establish   or   maintain   the  
status  quo  as  they  defend  or  extend  hierarchies  of  gender,  
race,  and  class.  (Gregg  Barak,  2003).  
 

 
COLLECTIVE  VIOLENCE  

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Collective  Violence  

 
Defining  Collective  Violence  
 
*  collective  (pertaining  to  a  group)    
*  violence  (the  infliction  of  physical  injury  or  the  destruction  
of  property).      
 

Collective  Violence  

Ordinary  violence    -­‐  one  individual  attack  another    

These  occur:  
v To  harm  their  target  
v For  personal  gain    
v Satisfy  their  emotion  
 
The  “change”  the  offender  wants  is  individual  or  interpersonal.  

Collective  Violence  

Social  Change    
…the  transformation  of  cultural,  economic,  political  and  social  
institutions  and  relationships  over  time.  
 
Acts   of   violence   is   not   collective   ..   unless   they   have   this   goal  
(Clarke  1982).  
 

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Collective  Violence  

Ordinary  violence  vs    Collective  violence    

 
Ordinary  violence    
Expressive  Violence-­‐  
committed  to  express  anger,  frustration  or  some  other  emotion.  
 
Collective  violence    
Instrumental  Violence    
committed   to   improve   one's   own   status   or   to   achieve   some   other  
material,  social  or  political  gain.  

Collective  Violence  

Types  of  Collective  Violence  (civil  violence):  

v Riots  
v Revolutions    
v Terrorism  
v Genocide  
v Militia  and  Survivalist  Violence  
v Hate  crimes  
 
 

Collective  Violence  

Collective   violence   ..   seen   as   collective   behaviour,  

spontaneous   behaviour   by   large   number   of   people  
(Locher  2002).  
 

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Collective  Violence  

 
Collective  violence  –  Rational  vs  Irrational  behaviour.  
How  rational  are  collective  violence?  
 

Rational     ..goal-­‐directed   to   achieve   certain   social   change  

(Weber,  1958),  it  is  sound,  wise  and  logical.  
 
If   collective   violence   work   to   achieve   the   desired   goals   “social  
change”   then   it   is   rational   (Button,1989;   Piven   and   Cloward,  
1979;  Piven  2006).  
 
 
  Gamson,   1997   noted   that   protest   can   succeed   even   when   it   is  
not  violent  in  nature.    

Collective  Violence  

 
 
How  rational  are  its  participants?  

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Collective  Violence  

 
Are   these   groups   any   different   to   those   planning   and  
fighting  wars?  

 
The  beliefs  of  collective  violence  groups  
 prompt  them  to  take  actions    
that  the  wider  society/  onlookers  cannot  comprehend  
…  but  that  does  not  mean  these  actions  come  from  
irrational  individuals.    

Collective  Violence  

Collective  violence    
 Micro  and  Macro  perspective.    
Why   some   individuals   are   more   likely   to   engage   in  
collective   violence   -­‐   from   a   micro   perspective   one   can  
look  at  individual  risk  factors  e.g.  personality.  
 
What  are  the  macro  structural  factors  such  as  the  social,  
economic  and  political  conditions  that  prompt  collective  
violence  and  make  it  more  likely  to  occur.  

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Collective  Violence  

Collective  violence  
…  and  the  interplay  with  state  authorities/government:  
The  interplay  between  state  and  protest  groups    
challenge   the   status   quo   through   disruptive   behaviours    
seen  as  a  challenge  to  the  civic  order  and  rule  of  a  country.    

Collective  Violence  

Persons  more  likely  to  engage  in  collective  violence  behaviour  

when:    
v Conventional  political  means  offer  little  hope  for  redress  for  
their  grievances    
v   Social  reform  polices  are  not  moving  forward  or  to  slow.  
v   There  is    authoritarian  government  that  repress  citizens.    
(Oberschall,  1973).  

Collective  Violence  

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Collective  Violence  

Collective  Violence  

 
 
EXPLAINING  COLLECTIVE  VIOLENCE  

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Collective  Violence  

Theories  are  written  during  a  time  period.  

19th  century  Europe  political  and  social  turmoil  erupted  
psychoanalytic   theory   was   emerging   on   the   unconscious  
Freud  -­‐  human  behaviour  influenced  by  unconscious  forces.    
crowd  acts  irrationally  on  unconscious  impulses  ..  
…and   think   more   like   children   or   primitive   people   rather  
than  like  intelligent  adults.      

Collective  Violence  

*  when   individuals   are   isolated   they   think   rationally   and  

without  undue  emotion.  LeBon  (1978)    
*  ..in   a   crowd   they   feel,   think   and   act   differently   and  
succumb  to  the  crowd’s  emotions.    
*  collective  mind  of  crowd-­‐  intellectual  aptitudes  weakened.  
*  Persons  commit  acts  contrary  to    most  obvious  interest.    
*  People  can  take  part  in  mobs,  riots  etc.  

Collective  Violence  

u Dominant   view   …   persons   who   engage   in   collective   behaviour  

especially,   social   movement   behaviour   are   acting   rationally   and  
instrumentally.    
u …the   means   and   ends   of   collective   violence   differs   little   main  
stream  conventional  political  activities  
u …Despite   the   extreme   behaviour   it   remains   political   behaviour   and  
they  are  political  actors.    
(Della  Porta  and  Diani,  2006;  Meyer  2007).  

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Collective  Violence  

Smelser’s  Structrual-­‐Strain  Theory  (1963)    

Macro  explanation  of  collective  behaviour  
6    factors  for  collective  action  to  occur:  
1.  Structural  conduciveness    
2.  Structural  strain    
3.  Generalized  beliefs  
4.  Collective  actions    
5.  Mobilization  for  action  
6.  Social  control  

Collective  Violence  

Ethnic  competition  model-­‐  Belanger  and  Pinard,  (1991)  –  

*  Conflict  -­‐  when  groups  compete  for  scarce  resources.    
*  ..   competition   increases   when   there   is   disruption   in  
the  economy  and  immigration  increases.  
*  Two  or  more  groups  compete  for  resources  leading  to  
ethnic  hostility  and  ethnic  violence.  
 
 

Collective  Violence  

Political  Approach  Charles  Tilly  (  1995)  –  

*  collective   violence   -­‐common   aspect   of   more   general  
contention  that  marks  almost  all  societies.    
 
*  Contention  -­‐   “one  set  of  people  making  claims  that  bear  on  
the  interest  of  another  set  of  people.”  
*  Collective  violence  -­‐  normal  …everyday  life  and  politics.    

Critique-­‐     not   all   violence   are   political   some   are   emotional.  

Strain  and  discontent  are  not  constant.  

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Collective  Violence  

Social   Constructionist   Perspective     (Snow   and   Oliver,  

1995).    
*  Individual   engage   in   collective   action   based   on   the  
meaning   they   attribute   to   specific   collective   action  
events.    
*  …cultural   aspects   of   collective   actions   drawing   on  
their  religious  and  other  beliefs  to  mobilize  support.  
*  Collective   identities   –   shared   understanding   of   how  
they  define  themselves  and  their  goals.    

Collective  Violence  

2  Aspects  of  Social  Constructionist  perspective    

1.  Framing  
2.  Collective  Identity  

Collective  Violence  

Framing   –   meanings   and   understanding   that   collective  

action   challengers,   their   antagonists   and   the   public  
attach   to   movement   grievances,   goals   and   justification  
for  collective  action.    
Affect  the  public  perception  of  protest.  
 

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Collective  Violence  

Collective   Identity   –   cognitive,   moral   and   emotional  

connection   with   a   broader   community,   category,  
practice   or   institution   and   is   a   perception   of   a   shared  
status  or  relation.    

Collective  Violence  

In  summary:  
The   development   of   theories   to   explain   collective  
violence   reflect   the   changing   social,   political   and  
intellectual   climates   at   the   time   of   the   study   (Jasper,  
2004).    

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