Violence, Structural Violence, Power, and Agency

Initial Question: What is your definition of violence?
World Health Organization's Definition:
- Intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group/community.
- Results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.
- Focus is on harm resulting from the use of physical force or power.

Physical Violence: Use of physical force.
Emotional Violence: Psychological and mental harm.
Sexual Violence
Verbal Violence
Environmental Violence
Symbolic Violence:
- Violence created through symbols.
- Example: Mainstream US American media and images of ideal body types impacting self-esteem.
- Research: Studies show negative impacts on self-esteem and body image in as little as one minute of exposure.
Economic Violence:
- Inability to afford basic necessities despite working.
- Poverty affecting many people worldwide.
Political Violence
Structural Violence: Introduced by Paul Farmer; inequalities causing harm.

Inequalities that emphasize violence or harm.
Coined in the 1960s, often attributed to Johann Galtung.
Systemic ways in which social structures harm people by preventing them from meeting basic needs.
Basic Needs:
- Material: Access to food, shelter.
- Immaterial: Self-esteem, dignity, respect, safety.
Examples of Inequalities:
- Racism, classism, ableism, sexism, adultism, nationalism, heterosexism, ageism, ethnocentrism.
Impact on Health: Inequalities significantly affect health outcomes.

Social arrangements putting individuals and populations in harm's way.
Embedded in the political and economic organization of the social world.
Cause injury to people.
Neither culture nor individual will is solely at fault.
Historically given and economically driven processes constrain individual agency.
Affects those denied access to scientific and social progress, leading to a lower quality of life.
Institutions create suffering and violence, limiting people's agencies.
Measuring Suffering: Farmer proposed scientifically measuring suffering by mapping demographics and access to resources.
Emphasis on Harm: Systemic inequalities are violent because they harm human beings.

World Health Organization recognizes violence as a major global health concern.
Affects the majority of populations worldwide.
Importance of addressing and preventing violence.
Violence is not an intractable social problem or an inevitable part of the human condition.
Global knowledge base is growing, and useful experience has been gained.

Power is not solely about coercion or domination.
Agency and the ability to affect the world are crucial aspects of power.
Power as the capacity to influence the behavior of others or the course of events.
Power in imagination and creativity.

Power: The ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence.
Agency: The potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, symbols, mental maps of reality, institutions, and structures of power.

Thinking about power through the metaphor of a game (e.g., Monopoly, video games).
Power in Naming the Game: Defining what game is being played.
Power in Defining the Rules: Creating the structure of the game.
Power in Getting People to Play: Gaining compliance.
Power in Winning: Successfully navigating or manipulating the system.
Power in Playing on Your Own Terms: Subverting the game.
Power in Refraining from Playing: Refusing to participate.
Power in Imagining Something Besides the Game: Creating alternative visions.
Even with power over, individual agency is limited but not eliminated.

Multidimensional analysis is necessary: Considering various factors.
Avoiding the fight over singular causes for violence (e.g., biology vs. individual choice).
Central US American Cultural Values: Strong belief in individual choice, power, autonomy, and freedom.
Tendency to focus on the agency of the individual.
Less acknowledgement of the power of institutions, history, material conditions, and embodied patterns.
Meritocracy: Belief that people get what they deserve or earn.
Focus on individual behavior rather than social, economic, and political conditions.

Importance of looking at inequalities in power.
Uneven agencies: Not everyone has the same power to access resources.
COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution: Example of inequalities in access to vaccines.
No one chooses their birth conditions: Inequalities start very young.
Critique: All men are created equal narrative.

Failure to see and acknowledge structures and institutions shaping reality.
Failure in socialization by schools, government, and media.
Challenging the Idea of Choice: Questioning if people would choose negative realities.

Individuals are socialized by institutions.
Institutions: Family, school, media, culture, government, police/military, corporations, healthcare/medicine, law.
Institutions provide frameworks for understanding:
- Who we are, who other people are, why we're here.
- How we should behave and fit in, what happens if we don't.
- What we should do with our time, why society/world is like it is.
- Where we come from, where we're going.
Power of these structures, especially in early years.

Institutions shape realities and identities.
Teaching us to pay attention to similarities and differences.
Human identity includes categories:
- Race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, language, culture, nationality.
- Immigration status, political views, religion, family background.
- Socioeconomic class, abilities, physical appearance, taste, personality.
Cultural context determines which differences are emphasized.