Editing Structural violence (section)

== Definitions ==

=== Galtung ===
According to [[Johan Galtung]], rather than conveying a physical image, ''structural violence'' is an "avoidable impairment of [[fundamental human needs]]."<ref>Galtung, Johan. 1993. "Kulturelle Gewalt." ''Der Burger im Staat'' vol. 43. p. 106, as cited in Ho, Kathleen. 2007. "Structural Violence as a Human Rights Violation." ''Essex Human Rights Review'' 4(2).</ref>

Galtung contrasts structural violence with "[[Violence|classical violence]]:" violence that is "direct," characterized by rudimentary, impermanent "bodily destruction" committed by some actor. Galtung places this as the first category of violence. In this sense, the purest form of structural violence can be understood as violence that endures with no particular beginning, and that lacks an 'actor' to have committed it.<ref name=":7">Galtung, Johan. 1975. "[https://www.transcend.org/galtung/papers/The%20Specific%20Contribution%20of%20Peace%20Research%20to%20the%20Study%20of%20the%20Causes%20of%20Violence%20-%20Typologies.pdf The Specific Contribution of Peace Research to the Study of the Causes of Violence: Typologies]," UNESCO Interdisciplinary Expert Meeting on the Study of the Causes of Violence.</ref>{{Rp|5,11}}

Following this, by excluding the requirement of an identifiable actor from the classical definition of ''violence'', Galtung lists [[poverty]] (i.e., the "deprival of basic human needs") as the second category of violence and "structurally conditioned poverty" as the first category of structural violence.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|11}}

Asking why violence necessarily needs to be done to the human body for it to be considered ''violence''—"why not also include violence done to the human mind, psyche or how one wants to express it"—Galtung proceeds to [[Political repression|repression]] (i.e., the "deprival of [[human rights]]") as the third category of violence, and "structurally conditioned repression" (or, "repressive intolerance") as the second type of structural violence.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|11}}

Lastly, Galtung notes that repression need not be violence associated with repressive regimes or declared on particular documents to be human-rights infractions, as "there are other types of damage done to the human mind not included in that particular tradition." From this sense, he categorizes [[Social alienation|alienation]] (i.e., "deprival of higher needs") as the fourth type of violence, leading to the third kind of structural violence, "structurally conditioned alienation"—or, "[[repressive tolerance]]," in that it is repressive but also compatible with repression, a lower level of structural violence.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|11}}

Since structural violence is avoidable, he argues, structural violence is a high cause of [[premature death]] and unnecessary disability.<ref name="PLoS" />

Some examples of structural violence as proposed by Galtung include institutionalized [[Adultism#Institutional adultism|adultism]], [[ageism]], [[classism]], [[elitism]], [[ethnocentrism]], [[nationalism]], [[Institutional racism|racism]], [[sexism]], and [[speciesism]].<ref name=":4">[https://www.galtung-institut.de/en/home/johan-galtung/ Johan Galtung]</ref><ref name=":5">[http://www.iais.org.my/e/index.php/events-sp-1744003054/past-events/517-public-lecture-seeking-peace-from-resolving-conflict-between-buddhists-and-muslims-in-myanmar-and-sri-lanka-by-prof-dr-johan-galtung.html "Seeking Peace from Resolving Conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar and Sri Lanka" by Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung]</ref> Structural violence and direct violence are said to be highly interdependent, including [[domestic violence|family violence]], [[sexual violence|gender violence]], [[hate crime]]s, [[racial violence]], [[police violence]], [[state violence]], [[terrorism]], and [[war]].<ref name=":6">{{cite book |first1 = James |last1 = Gilligan |author-link = James Gilligan |year = 1997 |title = Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic |publisher = [[Vintage Books]] |isbn = 978-0679779124 |quote = Structural violence is ... the main cause of behavioral violence on a socially and epidemiologically significant scale (from homicide and suicide to war and genocide). The question as to which of the two forms of violence—structural or behavioral—is more important, dangerous, or lethal is moot, for they are inextricably related to each other, as cause to effect. |page = 196 }}</ref>

=== Others ===
In his book ''Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic'', [[James Gilligan]] defines ''structural violence'' as "the increased rates of death and disability suffered by those who occupy the bottom rungs of society, as contrasted with the relatively lower [[death rates]] experienced by those who are above them." Gilligan largely describes these "[[excess deaths]]" as "non-natural" and attributes them to the stress, shame, [[discrimination]], and denigration that results from lower status. He draws on [[Richard Sennett]] and Jonathan Cobb (i.e., ''The Hidden Injuries of Class'', 1973), who examine the "contest for dignity" in a context of dramatic [[social inequality|inequality]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gilligan|first1=James|title=Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic|date=1996|publisher=First Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=0-679-77912-4|edition=second}}</ref>

In her [[Interdisciplinary teaching|interdisciplinary]] textbook on violence, [[Bandy X. Lee]] wrote "Structural violence refers to the avoidable limitations that society places on groups of people that constrain them from meeting their basic needs and achieving the quality of life that would otherwise be possible. These limitations, which can be political, economic, religious, cultural, or legal in nature, usually originate in institutions that exercise power over particular subjects."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Bandy X.|title=Violence: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Causes, Consequences, and Cures|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2019|isbn=978-1-119-24068-6|location=New York, NY|pages=123–42}}</ref> She goes on to say that "[it] is therefore an illustration of a power system wherein social structures or institutions cause harm to people in a way that results in [[maldevelopment]] and other deprivations."<ref name=":0" />

Rather than the term being called ''[[Social justice|social injustice]]'' or ''[[Social oppression|oppression]]'', there is an advocacy for it to be called ''violence'' because this phenomenon comes from, and can be corrected by, human decisions, rather than just [[natural causes]].<ref name=":0" />