Structural violence, a term which was first used in the 1970s and which has commonly been ascribed to Johan Galtung, denotes a form of violence which corresponds with the systematic ways in which a given social structure or social institution kills people slowly by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. Institutionalized elitism, ethnocentricism, classism, racism, sexism, adultism, nationalism, heterosexism and ageism are just some examples of this. Life spans are reduced when people are socially dominated, politically oppressed, or economically exploited. Structural violence and direct violence are highly interdependent. Structural violence inevitably produces conflict and often direct violence including family violence, racial violence, hate crimes, terrorism, genocide, and war. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Johan Galtung (born 24 October 1930 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian professor, working at the Transcend Institute. ... Social structure is a term frequently used in social theory - yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Jary and Jary 1991, Abercrombie et al 2000). ... A social institution is any institution in a socity that works to socialize the groups or people in it. ... Elitism is the belief or attitude that the people who are considered to be the elite — a selected group of persons with outstanding personal abilities, wealth, specialised training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously, or... Ethnocentrism (Greek ethnos nation + -centrism) is a set of beliefs or practices based on the view that ones own group is the center of everything. ... Classism (a term formed by analogy with racism) is any form of prejudice or oppression against people who are in, or who are perceived as being like those who are in, a lower social class (especially in the form of lower or higher socioeconomic status) within a class society. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex of the... Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which some see as biased against children, youth, and all young people who arent addressed or viewed as adults. ... Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolizing French nationalism during the July Revolution. ... Heterosexism is a predisposition towards heterosexual people, which some see as biased against lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender or intersexed, people among others. ... Age discrimination is a prejudice against a certain individual or group because of their age. ...

In 1984, Petra Kelly wrote (in her first book, Fighting for Hope): 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Petra Kelly, 1987 Petra Karin Kelly (November 29, 1947 – October 1, 1992), German peace activist and Green politician, was born in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany in 1947, and lived and studied in the United States between 1959 and 1970. ...

A third of the 2,000 million people in the developing countries are starving or suffering from malnutrition. Twenty-five per cent of their children die before their fifth birthday […] Less than 10 per cent of the 15 million children who died this year had been vaccinated against the six most common and dangerous children's diseases. Vaccinating every child costs £3 per child. But not doing so costs us five million lives a year. These are classic examples of structural violence.

The violence in structural violence is attributed to the specific organizations of society that injur or harm individuals or masses of individuals. A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ... This article is about nutritional starvation. ... Malnutrition is a general term for the medical condition caused by an improper or insufficient diet. ... Vaccination is a term coined by Edward Jenner for the process of administering a weakened form of a disease to patients as a means of giving them immunity to a more serious form of the disease. ...

In explaining his point of view on how structural violence affects the health of subaltern or marginalized people, a medical anthropologist, Paul Farmer writes, "Their sickness is a result of structural violence: neither culture nor pure individual will is at fault; rather, historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency. Structural violence is visited upon all those whose social status denies them access to the fruits of scientific and social progress."[1] Medical anthropology is a sub-branch of anthropology that is concerned with the application of anthropological and social science theories and methods to questions about health, illness and healing. ...

External link

• Robert Gilman: "Structural violence. Can we find genuine peace in a world with inequitable distribution of wealth among nations?" (1983)

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