Download File

Biopsychosocial origins of
violence:
Read and Outline pp. 749-756.
Panel Discussion: What causes
young people to join gangs and
participate in gang activity?
Obj.3.1 Evaluate sociocultural
origins of violence.
More specifically…
Evaluate one social explanation and one
cultural explanation for the origin of
violence.
S
Are murderers, gang members,
terrorist, and other violent people
violent by nature or violent by
nurture?
How can nature or nurture explain
violent behavior?
S
Understanding violence
 Violence - Interpersonal violence is defined as "the
intentional use of physical force or power, threatened
or actual, against another person or against a group
or community that results in or has a high likelihood
of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm,
maldevelopment, or deprivation" (Dahlberg and
Krug 2002).
Major sociocultural
assumptions
Cultural and social norms are highly influential in
shaping individual behavior.
 The social situations, more so than dispositions
explain human behavior.
 Culture plays a large role in your behavior.
 With these assumption sociocultural factors can have
a significant influence on violent behavior within the
context of a social situation or culture.
Explanations that will be
evaluated
 Cultural schemas for violence: A culture of
violent behavior.
 Social Learning Theory: Violence can be
learned from environmental factors.
The impact of culture on violent
behavior
 Cultural norms are rules or expectations of
behavior within a specific culture.
 Often unspoken, these norms offer social
standards of appropriate and inappropriate
behavior, governing what is (and is not)
acceptable and coordinating our interactions
with others.
The impact of culture on violent
behavior
Cultural and social norms can encourage violence.
 Cultural and social norms are highly influential in
shaping individual behavior, including the use of
violence.
The impact of culture on violent
behavior
Cultural and social norms can encourage violence.
 Norms can protect against violence, but they can also
support and encourage the use of it.
 For instance, cultural acceptance of violence, either as a
normal method of resolving conflict or as a usual part
of rearing a child, is a risk factor for all types of
interpersonal violence
How can violence be seen as a
norm through child rearing?
S
Some cultures may support
violent behavior.
 Cultural norms supporting different types of
violence:
 Cultural and social norms are rules or
expectations of behavior within a specific cultural
or social group.
 Often unspoken, these norms offer social
standards of appropriate and inappropriate
behavior, governing what is (and is not) acceptable
and coordinating our interactions with others
Some cultures may support
violent behavior.
 Cultural and social norms do not necessarily
correspond with an individual’s attitudes and
beliefs, although they may influence these
attitudes and beliefs if norms becomes
internalized.
 This is how one can develop cultural schemas for
violent behavior in certain social situations.
Some cultures may support
violent behavior.
 Cultural norms supporting different types of
violence
 Intimate partner violence
 Cultural Norm: A man has a right to assert power over a
woman and is socially superior (e.g. India, Nigeria,
Ghana).
 According to a 2002 International Center for Research
on Women study, 45 percent of reported Indian women
are physically or verbally challenged by their husbands.
India also had the highest rate of violence during
pregnancy.
Some cultures may support
violent behavior.
 Cultural norms supporting different types of
violence
S A woman’s freedom should be restricted (e.g. Pakistan).
S Physical violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflicts
within a relationship (e.g. South Africa, United States).
Understanding the
.
S
The culture of poverty
 The culture of poverty is not just a matter of
deprivation or disorganization, a term signifying the
absence of something.
 It is a culture in the traditional anthropological
sense in that it provides human beings with a
design for living, with a ready-made set of
solutions for human problems, and so serves a
significant adaptive function.
The culture of poverty
 Oscar Lewis coined the term culture of
poverty in his 1961 book The Children of
Sanchez. Lewis based his thesis on his
ethnographic studies of small Mexican
communities.
 His studies uncovered approximately 50
attributes shared within these
communities: frequent violence,
desensitization to violence, etc.
The culure of poverty
The culture of poverty
 Despite studying very small communities, Lewis
extrapolated his findings to suggest a universal
culture of poverty.
 More than 45 years later, the premise of the culture
of poverty paradigm remains the same: that people
in poverty share a consistent and observable
"culture” and so serves a significant adaptive
function.
Violent results of “poverty
culture”
The federal government's Fourth National Incidence
Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) found
that:
 Abuse is three times more common in poor
families. This was more of a predictor of abuse than
race.
Correlations between poverty
and abuse
 Cultural norms for people living in poverty mirror
the risk factors for child abuse (RCA):
 Resorting to crime for financial means (RCA)
 Aggressive dispositions (RCA)
 Lack of social support (RCA)
 High stressful environments (RCA)
 Lack of parenting skills (RCA)
Violence begets violence:
The social circle of violence
S
Social Learning
 As we have previously learned, children learn
antisocial behavior through observational learning
(Bandura).
 The social learning theory holds that people are not
born as violent individuals but rather they learn
violent behavior by watching and imitating the
behavior of others.
What would
theory suggest about children
who are victims of child abuse?
S
Social Learning Theory
 The social learning theory is often linked to
domestic abuse because a great number of people
who batter their intimate partners learned to be
violent from their role models during childhood.
Social Learning Theory
 Humans and animals learn by watching the actions
of others, children who grow up in violent homes or
high crime communities are more likely to adopt
violent behaviors as a means of dealing with conflict
or simply getting what they want than those who
grow up in low crime areas.
 In cases where the use of violence achieves the
desired result, this behavior will typically become a
means of achieving one's goals.
Evaluation of Sociocultural
origins of violence
S
Thinking critically about
sociocultural origins of violence
 Other explanations:
 Diffusion of Responsibility
 Majority and Minority Influence
 Deindividuation
Thinking critically about
sociocultural origins of violence
 What are the strengths of using social factors to explain
violence?
 Can social or cultural explanations alone explain violence?
 What other factors would also influence violence that should
be considered?
 Can various research methods provide greater insight into
violence?
Questions?
S