SOCIAL VIOLENCE: CHARACTERISTICS, CAUSES, TYPES, CONSEQUENCES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The social violence is a set of behaviors by individuals or society to one or more individuals who produce mental or physical damage. In general, these behaviors are evidenced by threats, offenses and even through physical force and their purpose is to obtain an action that the victim would not carry out voluntarily.

This type of behavior is not typical of the current era; on the contrary, it has existed for many years, only in different ways and with different magnitudes, and in some cases they have been escalating and have been transformed into a more serious scenario.

Social violence can be psychological, physical, religious, sexual, cultural and by exploitation, among others. Source: pixabay.com

Social violence is not always evident in the same way in all countries. The causes that originate it can be very diverse: they can be derived from political, social or cultural reasons. Likewise, the way in which it is externalized can also vary, since it does not always follow the same pattern.

characteristics

-Subjects involved

This type of behavior that is detrimental to the physical and / or mental health of the people who become victims are usually characterized by the presence of an aggressor, a victim and observers.

Aggressor

The aggressor may correspond to a group of people who carry out violent acts against one or more individuals in order to subdue and control them to obtain from them something that they would not do on their own and voluntarily.

Victim

The victim is the person who receives the assault and can be both an adult and a minor. In the case of minors, the laws are more rigorous to punish the aggressor.

Victims of aggression are diminished in their physical or psychological faculties due to the pressure that the aggressor places on them.

Observers

The observers are part of the environment in which the victim or the aggressor operates and are not directly participants because they are not the ones who promote the aggressor behavior, but are aware of the situation but do nothing to stop it. They stay out of the matter.

-Abuse of power

One of the main characteristics of violence is the abuse of power. The aggressor imposes himself by virtue of his position of dominance over the victim.

Historically, abuse is committed on people who have less power. Examples of this may be the power of a parent over her child or that of a teacher over a student.

-Intentional

Another characteristic is that social violence is intentional. The aggressor carries out the aggression for a specific purpose, consciously and maliciously, using different means such as abuse, manipulation, subjection, psychological pressure, and physical or verbal abuse.

-Directed

The aggressor consciously chooses his victim. It does not do it indiscriminately and seeks to obtain something from that person or group of people.

-Variations

The characteristics of each type of social violence can vary. For example, gender-based violence is different from economic violence: while in the former, the aim is the subjugation of a person in order to achieve recognition and respect, in the economic one, the objective is damage to the victim's assets.

Causes

The causes of social violence are usually very varied. They can be linked to upbringing, repetition of patterns, injustice, economic factors, ideological, social, political or religious beliefs and even psychological illnesses.

They can also be related to social exclusion, inequality and drugs, alcohol or any type of addiction. In this sense, the causes of social violence can be divided into subjective and objective.

Subjective causes

These causes are related to the rationality of being and to instincts, impulses, feelings and emotions. Some psychologists argue that these types of causes are not in themselves the triggers of violence, but rather are those that accompany the objective causes.

Objective causes

The objective causes are those that are related to social, political and cultural aspects. This is indicative that aggressive and violent behavior is learned, acquired and developed throughout human development.

Due to the values ​​instilled and perhaps because of having had a role model with this type of behavior, a person can be aggressive or perpetrate acts that are detrimental to the physical or psychological health of the victim, all in order to subdue them.

In this sense, the causes may vary according to the type of violence, since what leads the aggressor to generate social violence is not always the same.

Types

Psychological

It is aimed at attacking the self-esteem and emotions of the victim. There is no physical contact, but the aggressor seeks to generate a state of vulnerability on the person who receives it in order to control it.

Psychological violence is a continuous act that involves insults, threats, blackmail, contempt and rejection by the aggressor towards the victim.

Within this type of violence there is the so-called verbal violence, which is what is externalized through words or in writing. It also highlights emotional violence, whose objective is to make the person feel inferior.

Physical

It corresponds to the action of inflicting damage in a physical and noticeable way to one or more people, through blows that can cause injuries, bruises or fractures.

Sometimes the aggressor can use some type of object to hit. This type of violence is visible because the results are evident in the body of the person who receives it.

Usually, with this type of violence, the aggressor seeks to obtain an action from the victim that the victim would not carry out voluntarily.

Sexual

Sexual violence is considered to be those acts of an intimate nature that one person or several commits to another without their consent. These acts can be advances, touching, or harassment.

When this type of aggression is directed at minors, they are more serious and can have serious psychological implications. These attacks include child pornography and prostitution.

Cultural

Cultural violence has to do with the practices of particular characteristics carried out by a person or a group of people belonging to a certain culture.

Such practices may be considered violent by people outside the culture in question, but those who perform them perceive them as a normal act because they form part of their beliefs and those of the social circle to which they belong.

By negligence

This type of social violence arises from the lack of attention on the part of people who have been entrusted with the care of another individual who cannot take care of himself, either because of his advanced age (elderly), because they are children or because they are sick.

It occurs when the physical, safety, hygiene, hygiene or feeding needs of those under the care of another person are not met, which negatively affects the health of the person under care.

Religious

Religious social violence is evidenced when people of a certain religion are forced to perform acts that they would not voluntarily do. In this scenario, religion is used to manipulate and control people.

By exploitation

This type of violence mostly affects minors. An example of this context is when the exploiter-aggressor makes a child beg for money from strangers under the pretext of needing it to buy food, medicine or any other excuse.

This type of violence includes those derived from sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, robberies and any other type in which a person is used to obtain some economic benefit or advantage.

Economical

Economic violence arises when the assets or money of a specific person is used without their consent, always to the detriment of the victim or owner of the money.

Of genre

It refers to when violence is exerted by one sex on another, in search of recognition and respect. This type of violence is marked by an ideology since it comes from the conception of the favored patriarchal figure and from the traditional idea that supports the fact that there is inequality between the sexes.

A characteristic of this type of violence is discrimination based on sex, according to which some individuals are given preference over others based on their gender.

Consequences and social impact

The consequences of social violence will largely depend on the type of violence and its characteristics. For example, the consequences of gender-based violence are usually not the same as those of religious violence; each type has its own characteristics and consequences.

However, the most notable consequences of violence in general have to do with the degree of direct impact or damage that it generates on the victims. These damages can be to their physical integrity (which is often notorious) or to their emotional and psychological integrity.

Likewise, third parties who have been observers may also be indirectly affected. For example, let's imagine a situation of domestic violence in which one of the children witnesses episodes of this type; in this case, the child will undoubtedly be affected by the scenario.

Regarding the social impact, the consequences can lead to the dismantling of social ties, the creation of social distrust, disorganization and social isolation, and sometimes the appearance of a spiral of violence, as a result of which social development may be compromised. and economic of the population.

Examples

- Among the most drastic examples of social violence that involve a group of people, the cases of civil wars due to political or ideological reasons stand out.

- Wars against organized crime are very violent social scenarios. For example, this type of violence has occurred in Mexico for many years, and has derived from struggles between drug cartels that have claimed many human lives. In addition, they affect the economy and the quality of life of the population.

- An example of cultural violence is the practice of cutting or mutilation of the genital organs of girls, which is traditionally carried out in more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This practice is considered a violation of the human rights of women and girls by the World Health Organization.

- In the case of psychological violence, an example could be the disproportionate pressure exerted by a father on his son to make him play a certain sport against the will of the child. It often happens that he agrees to do so because of the fear and threats that his father carries out.

- Regarding the type of social violence due to negligence, it can occur in the case of elderly whose care has been entrusted to relatives or even specialized institutions (nursing homes), without these actually assisting the elderly who cannot fend for themselves, depriving them food, hygiene and supply to supply your medications.

How to prevent it

The prevention of social violence has its fundamental basis in reinforcing moral and social values ​​from the child's primary stage of growth.

This work falls primarily on the family, which is the primary and fundamental cell of society; Thanks to the participation of the family in the construction of positive values, psychologically healthy individuals can develop.

However, this work should be reinforced in schools with activities that help create in children the ability to discern between normal behaviors and situations of violence so that they can identify and reject them.

Recommendations from organizations

In addition to the above, UNICEF recommends supporting parents in raising their children, fostering family dialogue, and setting limits and norms for children that are consistent with their psychological and physical development.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization has stated that another form of prevention is the reduction of alcohol consumption and the implementation of regulations that restrict access to firearms, pesticides and knives.

Likewise, it expresses that it is essential to create norms that promote gender equality and non-discrimination for economic, race or sex reasons, as well as make changes in cultural and social norms that encourage violence.

References

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3. "Gender Violence" (Y / N) in Junta de Andalucía. Retrieved on August 16, 2019 from the Junta de Andalucía: juntadeandalucia.es
4. Castillero Mimenza, O. "What is social violence?" (S / F) in Psychology and Mind. Retrieved on June 17, 2019 from Psychology and Mind: psicologiaymente.com
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