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Preventing violence in a structurally violent society: mission impossible
1School of Social Welfare, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., USA.
The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
|January 1, 1996
Summary
Current violence prevention strategies fail because they focus on controlling behavior instead of addressing root causes. True prevention requires understanding and eradicating societal injustices that fuel violence.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Criminology
- Public Health
Background:
- Existing violence prevention efforts by governments and organizations often yield limited success.
- These initiatives frequently prioritize controlling or punishing individuals rather than addressing underlying societal issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically examine the effectiveness of current violence prevention strategies.
- To argue for a paradigm shift in violence prevention, focusing on root causes.
Main Methods:
- This paper employs a critical analysis of existing violence prevention frameworks.
- It reviews sociological and criminological theories on the origins of violence.
Main Results:
- Current approaches to violence prevention are fundamentally flawed due to their focus on individual behavior modification.
- These methods fail to acknowledge or address the systemic social conditions that contribute to violence.
Conclusions:
- Violence prevention efforts will remain ineffective unless they confront and dismantle oppressive social structures and values.
- A comprehensive approach understanding and eradicating the root causes of violence is essential for lasting change.