Abstract
Cultural violence’ are those aspects of culture, the symbolic sphere of our existence exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical science and formal science (logic, mathematics) that can be used to justify, legitimize direct or structural violence.
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Notes
- 1.
This text was first published as “Cultural Violence” in the Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 20, No. 3, 1990, pp. 291–305. The permission was granted by the author as the copyright holder to republish this text here. This text was originally presented as a lecture at the University of Melbourne Peace Studies Group in March 1989 and at the Summer Schools in Peace Studies at the University of Oslo and Hawaii in July 1989. I am indebted to the discussants at all these places.
- 2.
Thus, ‘cultural violence’ follows in the footsteps of another concept, “Violence, Peace and Peace Research”, in: Essays in Peace Research, Vol. 1, ch. 2, Ejlers, Copenhagen, 1974 (originally in Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 6 1970, pp. 167–91) where ‘structural violence’ was introduced for the first time (not the same as institutionalized violence, like vendetta). (For a recent very constructive critique and effort to develop the idea further see Michael Roth: “Strukturelle und personale Gewalt: Probleme der Operationalisierung des Gewaltbegriffes von Johan Galtung”, HSFK Forschungsbericht, 1/1986; Frankfurt am Main, April 1988.) A similar concept is introduced by Hans Saner in Personale, “strukturelle und symbolische Gewalt” in: Hoffnung und Gewalt. Zur Ferne des Friedens (Basel: Lenos und Z-Verlag, 1982), pp. 73–95.
- 3.
There are many efforts to create the ‘new man’ (and woman?). In the West each new branch of Christianity is an effort, so is humanism, so is socialism. But any inculcation in others of any single culture is in itself an act of direct violence (meaning intended by the actor), usually implying desocialization from one culture and resocialization into another; including the very first socialization of the young (defenseless) child. But if culture is a conditio sine qua non for a human being, we are born with none (only predispositions) and inculcation is an act of violence then we are faced with the basic problem of education: is ‘educate’ a transitive or intransitive verb? Of course it is both, related hermeneutically. Peaceful education, including socialization would probably imply exposure to multiple cultures and then a dialogue, as argued below. Neither Christianity, nor humanism is good at this; in fact, we still do not know how to do this.
- 4.
We then schematically divide control mechanisms into internal and external, positive and negative; identifying ‘internal, positive and negative’ as good and bad conscience respectively; external positive as reward and external negative as punishment. ‘Internalization’ is deeply rooted (in the person system) conscience, ‘institutionalization’ is deeply rooted (in the social system) punishment and/or reward. Both serve to make the act come forth: ‘naturally, normally, voluntarily’. This piece of elementary social science serves to locate cultural and structural violence centrally in general social science theory construction.
- 5.
See my chapter “Basic Human Needs”, in: Lederer, Antal, Galtung, Basic Needs: A Contribution to the Current Debate (Königstein: Hahn 1980).
- 6.
For an effort to compare the three systems (not only Hitlerism and Stalinism as is now very common with glasnost revisionism) see my Hitlerism, Stalinism, Reaganism: Three Variations on a Theme by Orwell, in Norwegian edition 1984, Spanish edition 1985 and German edition 1987; English edition forthcoming 1990. Not three persons but three political systems are being compared for their origins.
- 7.
There are strong similarities built around shinto themes of chosenness. For an analysis see Sabura Ienaga, The Pacific War: 1931–1945, Random House 1978, particularly p. 154 for the hakko ichiu (the eight corners of the world under one roof) concept.
- 8.
The easy approach is to dump all ‘side-effects’ at the doorsteps of some other disciplines demanding that they shall clean it up conceptually, theoretically, practically-like economists do.
- 9.
A document consisting of the Universal Declaration of 1948, the two Covenants of 1966 and an Optional Protocol. The Bill has not yet attained the stranding it deserves, among other reasons because of U.S. failure to ratify the Covenants.
- 10.
See Johan Galtung, “How Universal Are the Human Rights? Some Less Applaudable Consequences of the Human Rights Tradition”, Paper prepared for the Nobel Symposium on human rights, Oslo, June 1988.
- 11.
For many variations on structural violence, see my Essays in Peace Research, Vol. III, Copenhagen, Ejlers, 1978, Parts I–III.
- 12.
Hence it is at this level environmental degradation has to be counteracted, through de-industrializing and dc commercializing processes, not by converting one type of pollution or depletion to another through patchwork approaches to this major global problem.
- 13.
For this distinction between types of variables see Johan Galtung, Methodology and Ideology, Copenhagen, Ejlers, 1977, chapter 9, “Generalized Methodology for Research”.
- 14.
Rather, it is almost incredible how peaceful that border high up in the North has been between such a small and such a big country, supposed by some to be eager to fill any ‘power vacuum’.
- 15.
This, of course, is the general approach taken by SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in the yearbooks and other publications; very useful as documentation at the surface level but not deepening the understanding of the phenomenon so much that real counter-measures can be imagined and enacted.
- 16.
These factors are very often held to be important in explaining Japanese aggressiveness, e.g., by Ruth Benedict in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Ienaga, op. cit., is also quoting these factors. Obviously, the aggressiveness displayed in a major war is a multi rooted phenomenon. ‘Explaining’ aggressiveness is best done to the enemy, not to oneself where ‘justified indignation’ is the word.
- 17.
When the tram passed the Imperial Castle in Tokyo the passengers used to stand up and bow to the Emperor. And the shinto Yasukuni shrine is still a major center of the national and nationalist constructions in Japan. After their defeat in the 23 July 1989 elections the new LDP Prime Minister, Kaifu, did not visit the shrine on the anniversary of the capitulation 15 August 1945, well knowing that the winds were blowing more from the left.
- 18.
Personally I have not seen any country with such a deep integration of the military into the university as the U.S. (R.O.T.C.) F even permitting the military to buy students with scholarships and to give classes filled with militarist propaganda.
- 19.
Another theological distinction of equal importance is whether we are born with original sin (as some Christians would claim), original blessing (as others would claim), both (a Hindu Buddhist karmaist position?) or neither (an atheist position). The combination (transcendental God; original sin) has tremendous implications for controlling people, fully understood by Luther.
- 20.
For more details about this, see Johan Galtung, chapter 3, “The Middle East Conflict” in Solving Conflicts: A Peace Research Perspective; Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989 and Nonviolence and Israel/Palestine; Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. For an excellent study of the theme of chosenness in this connection, see Hans-Ruedi Weber, “The Promise of the Land; Biblical Interpretation and the present situation in the Middle East”, Study Encounter, Vol. VII, No. 4, 1971.
- 21.
A major theme of the fascinating and scary dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, New York, Ballantine Books, 1987.
- 22.
For an analysis, see my Japan in the Pacific Community, Japanese version 1989, English version 1990, chapter entitled “Peace Politics for Japan: Some Proposals”.
- 23.
My own position, not very original, is this: the fetus is life, hence sacred. Everything possible should be done to avoid a situation where life is destroyed, wilfully or not. After all alternatives have been exhausted the decision belongs to those who created that life, generally a woman and a man, with veto power to the woman and right of consultation to the man.
- 24.
For an excellent guide see Casey Miller and Kate Smith, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, New York, Harper and Row, 1988 (2nd edition).
- 25.
See Johan Galtung and Fumiko Nishimura, “Structure, Culture and Languages: An Essay Comparing the Indo European, Chinese and Japanese Languages”, Social Science Information, 22(6), 1983, pp. 895–925.
- 26.
For an exploration of this process see my Europe in the Making, New York, Taylor and Francis, 1989, chapter 2.
- 27.
For an excellent analysis see Mogens Trolle Larsen, “Europas Lys”, chapter 1 in Boll-Johansen, Harbsmeier, eds., Europas Opdagelse, Copenhagen, Ejlers, 1988. For the paintings, see pp. 21 and 23.
- 28.
This was originally proposed by David Ricardo, put in the language of neo-classical economics by Heckscher-Ohlin, Jan Tinbergen, and Paul Samuel son.
- 29.
Joan Robinson, the Cambridge economist, has pointed this out forcefully in a number of articles.
- 30.
This is the basic theme of the article “A Structural Theory of Imperialism”, chapter 13 in the set of articles referred to in footnote 10 above. The article is updated somewhat in Essays in Peace Research, Vol. VI, Copenhagen, Ejlers, 1988, as “‘A Structural Theory of Imperialism’ Ten Years Later”.
- 31.
His basic point is simply this: use all surplus value accumulated to improve the factors of production, not for luxury consumption by the owners of the factors of production, to get out of the trap. Simple and wise, this is what Japan did, but hardly what Japan today would like to see too many others do today.
- 32.
This theme is developed in some detail in my Methodology and Development, Copenhagen, Ejlers, 1988, chapter 41 “Theory-formation as Development”, particularly 4.4, “Contradictory Reality and Mathematics: A Contradiction?”, pp. 162–75.
- 33.
An important post-structuralist position: digging deep, below the surface is not a transition from multiplicity to simplicity. Deep occidental culture, for instance, is no unambiguous. I would, for instance, argue that Christianity can only be understood in terms of at least as two varieties, a hard (more transcendental original sin oriented) and a soft (immanent/original blessing oriented). Others see a more complex variety of deep cultures.
- 34.
Cosmology is then defined, roughly, as “the deep culture of a civilization, including the general assumptions underlying the deep structures”.
- 35.
When does the culture, particularly the deep culture, have sufficient plasticity (Scholem) for the culture to be molded, reshaped? In times of crises? After a deep trauma has been inflicted including the trauma of inflicting deep traumas on others? We know little about this, but these are among the questions to be asked.
- 36.
Look at Gandhi’s life. The political agenda he took on was staggering: swaraj; the exploration of satyagraha and sarvodaya; the uplift of the Indians in Africa, the harijans in India, the women; and the communal struggle between Hindus and Muslims. At no point’ did Gandhi say: I do one of these, and the others follow.
- 37.
This is explored in some detail in Methodology and Development, chapter 1.1, “Back to the origin: On Christian and Buddhist Epistemology”, particularly pp. 25–6.
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Galtung, J., Fischer, D. (2013). Cultural Violence. In: Johan Galtung. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32481-9_4
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