Violence

-- By MarkusVonDerMarwitz - 19 Feb 2016

Subjective vs. Systemic Violence

Our understanding of violence, and what exactly violent acts represent, has important implications on how we respond to social problems and particularly how we structure our criminal justice system and police force. Slavoj Zizek offers a useful classification of violence and distinguishes between “subjective” violence—those acts that most of us readily perceive as violent acts, such as terrorist attacks or riots—and “systemic” violence, which is violence created by the socio-economic structure of the system.

When policy makers respond to subjective acts of violence, their focus is largely to quash these specific acts, often by increasing the force of the state, whether its equipping police officers with military style equipment or increasing the harshness of prison sentences. On the other hand, systemic violence goes largely unnoticed, because it persists as our zero state; what is thought of as our peaceful state. This form of violence is difficult to notice, because it requires looking at events one witnesses everyday in a new way. An anecdote in Zizek’s book illustrates this point:

“There is an old story about a worker suspected of stealing: every evening, as he leaves the factory, the wheelbarrow he rolls in front of him is carefully inspected. The guards can find nothing. It is always empty. Finally, the penny drops: what the worker is stealing are the wheelbarrows themselves.” (Violence, Zizek)

The wheelbarrows represent the subtle, almost invisible, forms of violence that are present in our moments of supposed peace. In order to think creatively about how to reduce acts of subjective violence, one needs to step back and assess our system in relation to the deeper structural violence present in the system. One needs to be absent when analyzing forms of subjective violence in order to see the underlying systemic violence that fuels these acts.

Responses to Violence

Past policies to combat violence have often been couched in assumptions that prison and punishment deter. This is largely a symptom of merely targeting these overt forms of violence. The irony is that these violent acts are often countered by more “good” violence that have the undesirable effect of perpetuating the system that breads the very violence it is trying to eradicate. Harsher sentences are aimed at preventing violent actors from committing acts in the sincere belief that individuals are freely weighing the potential gain and costs of their acts, while in reality these policies have added to the injustice in our system.

There is a large scale failure to seriously address the deep seeded systemic violence that exists in what we conceive as our peaceful state. The current status quo subjects a large number of people in the United States to poverty, and there is a deep mistrust of the police and justice system for a large number of individuals. When one invokes the word “police” it already strikes up vastly diverging images to different communities in this country. It can invoke both an image of justice, while equally justify images of brutal state force. Recognizing different reactions to a word suggests how deeply divided society is in this supposed state of peace. “Language that we and our neighbors can live in different worlds even when we live on the same street. Verbal violence is not a secondary distortion, but the ultimate resort of every specifically human violence.”(Violence, Zizek p.66.). “The fundamental divide is one between those included in the sphere of (relative) economic prosperity and those excluded from it. (Violence, Zizek P.102).” It is vital to recognize this is the status-quo that is perceived as peaceful.

When the police responded to the Ferguson riots, the response was no longer one of a police force trying to diffuse the situation; it was a response driven by a feeling that these violent actors need to be defeated with greater force. It is wrong to think of riots such as these as a departure from a peaceful state. And the correct response would undoubtedly be linked to tackling this systemic injustice, not wipe out the actors engaged in these overt “violent” acts. When the rioters engaged in violent responses to excessive police force, it was not the the specific police officers they were attacking, it was the image they represent that was being attacked. “Language creates an image you are attacking…when we are dealing with the scene of a furious crowd, attacking and burning buildings and cars, lynching people etc., we should never forget the placards they are carrying and the words which sustain and justify their acts.” (Violence, Zizek P.67). This exemplifies the narrow focus of how these problems are viewed, and misses entirely the deeper structural forces that are driving this unrest.

Solutions to Violence

Devising effective solutions will require a serious step back and an entirely new perspective. For instance, instituting a guaranteed income for everyone would be far more effective at reducing violence than increased militarization of the police or harsher sentences. “The only true solution is to tear down the true wall…the socio-economic one: to change society so that people will no longer desperately try to escape their own world.” (Violence, Zizek, p.103-104). But solutions such as these only become visible when one analyzes the subjective forms of violence for what they are; a response to systemic injustice.

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