Conflict and Violence
Senior 1 · History and Citizenship
Conflict and Violence
Lesson 1 of 5
24 min
Source A. Violence is "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."
World Health Organization, World report on violence and health (Geneva, 2002), page 5.
Doctors, teachers and police around the world use this definition. It is wider than most people expect: violence is not only a blow. The worked example below reads it word by word.
Worked example: reading a definition word by word
Conclusion: by this definition, name-calling that makes a classmate afraid to come to school is violence, because it is intentional and causes psychological harm and deprivation of schooling.
Definition
Conflict: a disagreement or clash between people or groups who have, or believe they have, different interests, needs, values or goals. Conflict is normal and can be solved peacefully. Example: two classes both want the football pitch at break time.
Definition
Violence: the intentional use of force or power, threatened or actual, that harms or is likely to harm a person, a group or oneself (World Health Organization). Violence is one possible response to conflict, not the same thing as conflict.
Definition
Physical violence: force used against a person's body, such as hitting, pushing or beating. Example: a fight in the school compound.
Definition
Psychological violence: harm to a person's mind and feelings through words or behaviour, such as insults, threats, humiliation or isolation. Example: a group message that mocks a classmate every day.
Definition
Structural violence: harm caused by unfair laws, rules or social systems that keep some people from what they need, even when nobody strikes a blow. The Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung introduced the term in 1969. Example: apartheid laws in South Africa that gave Black pupils poorer schools.
Definition
Cultural violence: ideas, beliefs, words and stories in a society that make violence or discrimination against a group seem normal or justified. Galtung added this term in 1990. Example: jokes and songs that describe a group as less than human.
| Form of violence | What it is | Example at school | Example in a community or nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical | using force against a person's body | pushing, slapping or beating a classmate | fighting between groups; attacks on people or homes |
| Psychological (emotional) | harming a person's mind and feelings with words or behaviour | name-calling, threats, spreading rumours, leaving someone out on purpose, online insults | hate speech on radio or social media; threats against a family |
| Sexual | any unwanted sexual touching, comment or act | unwanted touching or remarks about a pupil's body | sexual harassment; gender-based violence |
| Economic | taking or controlling someone's money or property to harm them | forcing younger pupils to hand over pocket money or food | denying a widow her share of land; stealing a family's harvest |
| Structural | harm built into laws, rules or systems, so that a group is kept down without anyone striking a blow | a school rule that shuts out pupils with disabilities | apartheid laws in South Africa; colonial rules that gave jobs and schooling to one group only |
Conflicts are also classified by who is involved.
| Level of conflict | Who is involved | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Interpersonal | two or a few individuals | two friends quarrel over a borrowed phone; two neighbours argue about a boundary |
| Community (intergroup) | groups within a village, school or town | two villages dispute the use of a marsh; rival fan groups after a football match |
| National | large groups, political parties or the government and citizens of one country | violence after the disputed 2007 election in Kenya (Lesson 2) |
| International | two or more states | a border war between two countries |
Johan Galtung pictured violence as a triangle (Figure 1). Only the tip, direct violence, is easy to see. Underneath lie structural and cultural violence, which make direct violence more likely.
Important
Under apartheid (1948 to 1994), South African laws divided people by race. The Bantu Education Act of 1953 put Black pupils in separate schools that received far less money than schools for white pupils. Nobody was struck by the Act, but it held back millions of children: structural violence.
In 1976 the government ordered that some subjects in Black secondary schools be taught in Afrikaans. On 16 June 1976, thousands of students in Soweto marched in protest. Police fired on the marchers, and many young people were killed. Structural violence had turned into direct violence. South Africa now marks 16 June as Youth Day, and apartheid ended with the country's first democratic election in 1994.
Is a rule that keeps some children out of good schools a form of violence, even if nobody is hit? Use Source A and Figure 1 in your answer. Then think of one rule, at school or in society, that could become structural violence if it were unfair.
Tip
Memory hook: "What you can see, and what you cannot." Physical violence can be seen. Psychological and structural violence are often hidden, but they hurt just as much, and they come first.
Harvard Online: "Direct, structural, and cultural violence", a two-minute explanation of Johan Galtung's three kinds of violence. Watch for one example of each, and place them on Figure 1.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
