Taipei Times - archives

Taipei Times - archivesIn the 1960s, peace and conflict studies pioneer Johan Galtung proposed the thought-provoking concept of “structural violence.” Structural violence refers to a kind of social structure under which, although there may be no direct physical violence by one group of people against another, one group of people does not have the same access as others to the conditions needed for existence and this constitutes a threat against the less privileged group. Although this threat to survival is not caused by direct violence, such a social structure and environment can be said to constitute structural violence against those in a weaker position.