The deadliest form of violence is poverty, a notion put forward by Gandhi. According to Gillian, persons within the lower ranks of society, in terms of wealth, are more likely to be exposed to violent activities. In a capitalist society, violence is internalized simply because these persons of the lower ranks are taught how to detest themselves. This is because the social and economic hierarchy has taught them that they have no position in society. This form of self detest culminates into a vicious cycle of violence in the family unit and eventually to the society. It is a form of violence that remains unacknowledged and less understood as it remains a war amongst the poor in society (Gillian 1997).
According to James Gilligan, violence is caused by shame, poverty and guilt. From his studies, it was evident that perpetrators of violent crimes had a common desire for respect. It is from these causes that he suggests the remedies for violent behavior. Violence begins at the stage where gone is punished, leading to anger which eventually leads to violent acts. The tendency of an individual to act violently is determined by the psychological state of mind. Shame results from the fact that an individual lacks love an event that leads to loss of self-esteem. According to Gillian, the high prevalence of violent behavior in a country is merely indicative of the rigid structure of the socio-economic status of the people. The restructuring of these systems would help mitigate the occurrences of violence in a country (Gillian 1997).
He explains that the main motivating factor of violence is shame. This happens when an individual who feels humiliated resorts to violence towards an individual as the only way of inflicting shame onto the injured party. Violence stems out from hidden shame that is also a product of the social systems that only serve to worsen the situation. An individual who is accustomed to shame tends to develop defensive measures that are crude thus resulting into violence. Gillian acknowledges Gandhi’s view of violence. Violence stems from economic, racial and class differences. Structural violence is that form of violence that is suffered by persons in the lower economic class. An individual defines behavioral violence as the unnatural killings committed and violent acts. It is this form of violence that receives the greatest attention from the media and educational institutions. (Gillian 1997)
Gillian also asserts that structural violence is not noticed in most cases meaning that no one cares about these forms of violence. This is due to the fact that it is an end product socio- economic imbalance. The political parties only represent the views of the rich and those in the middleclass. Thus, when alarm is raised towards the increase of crimes and violent activities, the poor are subjected to the middle classes anger as they are viewed as the primary perpetrators of the crime activities. Increased crime rates, causes the rich to promise war onto the criminal elements, the poor. (Gillian 1997)
Structural violence is defined as the form of violence that results from the structural differences between the people of a given community. It is a form of violence that is rather silent and whose implications are invisible. Structural violence describes the social, political and economical arrangements, which define a social grouping. This is termed as violence as the structural arrangement causes injury and harm to persons at the lowest ladder of the hierarchy. One of the defining characteristic of structural form of violence is invisibility. For this form of violence, it is difficult to assign blame onto an individual. Cases of death resulting from this form of violence are deaths due to starvation or death occasioned from diseases that are preventable or treatable. (Gillian 1997)
Behavioral violence is that form of violence that results from individual’s mental attitude of aggression dealing with problems. Persons with aggressive behavior are likely to engage in violent behavior. Aggressive behavior is caused by a breakdown of shared values, variations in the family set up such as in upbringing. Feelings of isolation and general psychiatric disorders are some of the aggravating factors that may lead one to behave aggressively. (Gillian 1997)
Unlike structural violence, this form of violence is visible and is capable of singling out an individual for blame. People react more to behavior violence as opposed to structural violence. Violence is mostly associated to the poor people in society. Structural violence also affects health care provision. This shows that structural violence is an indirect form of violence that exploits the poor people socially, economically and psychologically. The poor people are more likely to be involved in violence as opposed to the rich people. This is probably due to the fact that the structural imbalance causes feeling of betrayal and a desire to punish the rich people for gathering too much wealth for their own. Thus, structural violence leads to other forms of violence such behavioral violence. Society inequalities breed resentment towards those who possess a surplus of what one desires to have. (Gillian 1997)
The fact that persons in the higher cradles of society humiliate the poor people may act as an aggravating factor for the poor people to result into violent activities. This form of humiliation and constant disregard of their rights in my opinion causes these persons to act violently towards the elites in society. Poverty causes desperation, which subsequently calls for action. Some of the causes of poverty are income inequality, lack of employment, illiteracy, unequal distribution of resources and high cost of living. In every society, there exist forms of classification. The structural classification automatically results into structural violence. The tendency to feel inferior to a group of persons may not be a substantial factor to inflict other forms of violence such as those caused by aggression. However, the fact that the rich continue to siphon all the resources available in the society while at the same time ridiculing those from whom they exploit, means that there shall always be poor people and consequently violence. A social system in which all people have equal opportunities is merely a hypothetical situation.
