Violence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Graham87 (talk | contribs) at 13:10, 29 July 2007 (rv to last version by Alcor2010). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see Violence (disambiguation).
"Hitting" redirects here. For the baseball term, see Batting (baseball).
"Violent" redirects here. For the Stellar* song, see Violent (song).


Violence is acts of aggression and abuse that cause' or intend to cause injury to person(s) (and by some definitions animals or property). Central to this concept of violence is the presence of the definite intention to cause significant (usually physical) injury, damage and harm.

Violence is often considered a crime. Damage to property is typically considered minor relative to violence against persons and harm to animals (depending on the situation and social values related to animal cruelty). The term "violence" also connotes an aggressive tendency to act out destructive behaviours. Violence can also be divided into two forms — random violence, which includes unpremeditated or small-scale violence, and coordinated violence, which includes actions carried out by sanctioned or unsanctioned violent groups —such as war, terrorism and in some cases certain types of revolution (all of which can be considered inter-societal or intra-societal). In many areas of the world, such as Western Europe, violence has decreased greatly over the past several hundred years.[1]

War

Since the Industrial Revolution, the lethality of modern warfare has steadily grown to levels considered universally dangerous. As a practical matter, warfare on a massive scale is considered to be a direct threat to the prosperity and survival of individuals, cultures, societies, and the world's living populations. However, death per involved populations' size has significantly decreased, due in part to the involvement of populations pressuring their governments to enact more humane fighting strategies and or opposition to war itself. Lawrence H. Keeley, a professor at the University of Illinois, calculates that 87 per cent of tribal societies were at war more than once per year, and some 65 per cent of them were fighting continuously. The attrition rate of numerous close-quarter clashes, which characterize endemic warfare, produces casualty rates of up to 60%, compared to 1% of the combatants as is typical in modern warfare.

Law

One of the main functions of law is to regulate violence. Indeed, the sociologist Max Weber famously stated that power is the Monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force on a specific territory. In modern societies, the state retains this monopoly. In earlier communities, a chieftain or king might have had that right. That is to say "violence" also refers to the means used by authorities in order for their decisions to be applied.

Certain forms and degrees of violence are socially and/or legally sanctioned, and some result from legal action, while others constitute crimes within a specific society. Different societies apply different standards relating to sanctioned and non-sanctioned forms of violence. Degrees of violence that are unacceptable by a society's norms are commonly regarded as cruel, and may be termed extra-normal violence. Violence used in terrorism is often normal in terms of degree.

Violence can be unilateral, while fighting implies a reaction, at least a defensive one.

Here are some forms/conceptions of violence condemned/conceived by various legal entities :

  • Abuse - to use wrongly or improperly used; misuse
  • Aggravated assault - assault with the use of weapons or in other circumstances beyond the realm of normal assault
  • Assault - an unlawful physical attack upon another or threat to do violence to another
  • Assault and battery - an assault involving actual bodily contact \
  • Battery - an unlawful attack upon another person by beating or wounding, or by touching in an offensive manner
  • Cruelty to animals - a cruel act upon an animal
  • Child Abuse - cruelty to children (people under the age of 18)
  • Domestic violence - acts of violence against a person living in one's household or a member of one's immediate family
  • Homicide - the killing of another human being
  • Murder - homicide in certain proscribed conditions
  • Property damage - damage to another's property (ie: breaking of things, burning, or harming in a devastating manner)
  • Rape- the unlawful compelling of someone through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines violence as "Injury inflicted by deliberate means", which includes assault, as well as "legal intervention, and self-harm".[2] The Federal Bureau of Investigation further classifies violence resulting in homicide, into criminal homicide and justifiable homicide (e.g. self defense).[3]

Psychology and sociology

The causes of violent behaviour are often a research topic in psychology and sociology. Violence is often pursued as an antidote to shame or humiliation.[4]. The mistaken concept here is that violence is a source of pride and a defense of honor.[5]

Violence (in other than legislative significance) is often, but not always, a deviant behaviour.[citation needed] Even violence endorsed by the state (state force) is considered exceptional, and cannot be considered the norm. As Arendt explains: "Violence can be justifiable, but it never will be legitimate ... Its justification loses in plausibility the farther its intended end recedes into the future. No one questions the use of violence in self-defence, because the danger is not only clear but also present, and the end justifying the means is immediate."[6] In this sense, the perception is in sync with the domain of psychology or sociology: the concept of violence is always a deviation of some kind.

Another view is that violence is inherent in humans,[7] and is kept in check by self-restraint.[8]

The psychologist James W. Prescott performed a study about how the cause of violence in the anthropological sense, which he mainly attaches to lack of mother-child bonding. He links repression of sexuality and punishment of children as a cause of violent societies.

Some writers (Riane Eisler, Walter Wink, Daniel Quinn) have suggested that violence - or at least the arsenal of violent strategies we take for granted - is a phenomenon of the last five to ten thousand years, and was not present in pre-domestication and early post-domestication human societies, although others such as Stephen Pinker (in the Blank Slate) argue that violent behavior is evolutionarily derived.

See also:

How to prevent violence

The World Health Organization in 2002 brought out a report on violence and health that concludes with specific recommendations on how societies can prevent violence. Irvin Waller in Less Law, More Order uses the WHO report and others to develop an evidence based proposal for a crime bill to prevent violence and save taxes.

Each year 24 million Americans are victims of crime. U.S. taxpayers spend more and more each year on police, prisons and judges--a record $200 billion at last count. Yet prestigious commissions show not only that this standard way of responding to crime is ineffective but that there is scientific proof that many projects that tackle risk factors that cause crime are effective. The book illustrates in convincing detail what needs to be done to prevent crime. Waller shows that hiring public health nurses and investing in helping youth at risk to complete school and get job training is better than hiring more police; preventing family violence, banning hand guns and dealing with drugs through public health saves more lives than incarceration; getting close neighbors to watch out for us and better industrial design are more effective than criminal courts; smarter policing is better than more police; paying for services to support victims and guaranteeing them rights is better than more rhetoric. Addressing the social issues that lead to crime, rather than addressing crime after it happens, or putting stiffer penalties in place, will contribute to creating a safer society and to keeping kids and adults from taking the wrong path toward a life of crime.

Nonviolence and nonviolent resistance are forms of personal, social and political action that seek to confront and reduce violence, repression and injustice. Nonviolence as a political philosophy and political movement has, particularly throughout the 20th century recorded and developed a massive range of actions, strategies and methodologies to conduct conflict. Primary categories of nonviolent forms of action codified by Gene Sharp are: acts of protest and persuasion, acts of nonviolent nonco-operation and nonviolent intervention.

Violence in the media

Main article: graphic violence

A highly debated topic is the influence of violent content in popular media such as film, television, music, comic books, and video games.

Violence makes many appearances in these, much to the displeasure of parents and politicians. Violence in these media has led to censorship in extreme cases, and regulation in others, one case being the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994.

Violent content has been a central part of video game controversy, critics like Dave Grossman and Jack Thompson arguing that violence in games (some of which they both call "murder simulators") hardens children to unethical acts. See also: Aestheticization of violence and "Aggression in the media" in the Aggression section.

Health and wellness

The World Health Organization (WHO, [1]) estimates that each year around 1.6 million lives are lost world-wide due to violence. It is among the leading causes of death for people ages 15-44, youth violence being evermost in the rise. Its impact is greater among the male than the female population.

On October 3, 2002, the WHO launched the first World Report on Violence and Health[2]. In it, violence is defined as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation."

Endemic and mock violence

Further information: endemic warfare and Initiation

Aggressive and violent behaviour are central elements of human social interaction, including display of potential aggression, ritual mock combat, competitive combat (martial arts, in particular unarmed wrestling, often ritualised to avoid severe injury), tournament bouts to establish hierarchy or prestige, as well as sexually motivated consensual violence. Violence notably plays a role in male bonding, with hooliganism and similar behaviour establishing peer groups. Violence is also deeply seated in myth and ritual, enacted in animal sacrifice or human sacrifice, but often reduced to ritual only symbolic of violence (Passion play (San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites), Eucharist, Purushamedha; see also Violence and the Sacred, Homo necans).

See also

References

Notes and references

  1. ^ Steven Pinker, A History of Violence, The New Republic, 19 March 2007
  2. ^ "Definitions for WISQARSTM Nonfatal". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2006-11-10.
  3. ^ "Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook" (PDF). Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2004.
  4. ^ Gilligan, James (1996). Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes. Putnam Adult. ISBN 0-399-13979-6
  5. ^ Emotional Competency Entry describing violence
  6. ^ Arendt, Hannah. On Violence. Harvest Book. p. 52.
  7. ^ Peterson, Dale (1997). Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. Mariner Books. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) ISBN 0-395-87743-1
  8. ^ Baumeister, Roy F. (1999). Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. Owl Books. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) ISBN 0-8050-7165-2

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Violence.

Reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Violence&oldid=147847502"