How socio-economic factors contribute to a violent society

Sociologists opine that the prevailing economic crisis has a direct link to social and psychological issues

The prevailing socio-economic crisis has negatively impacted people’s lives to a point where they have become more aggressive and violent. A spike in incidents of violence and the portrayal of violent incidents on media have a direct correlation to the escalating number of crimes in society. Amidst the backdrop of a crippled health sector due to the shortage of facilities, drugs, consumables and devices, the medics opine that more victims of abuse and violence are now being hospitalized to emergency treatment wards. 

Role of parents, teachers and media 

Speaking at a recent discussion on the impact of violence on mental health organized by the Sri Lanka Medical Association, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Prof. Miyuru Chandradasa said that today’s parents have seen and experienced violence that happened during the 70s and 80s. “Even though people don’t have direct memories of insurgencies and the ethnic conflict, these memories could be stored in the subconscious mind. We call this ObjectRelations in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
 
This means that if there’s violence associated with a person or event with which we had a close relationship with these memories of violence get deposited in our subconscious mind. Later on, we release this trauma on another person whom we have a relationship with or fight with. By releasing this violence, it could harm other people and the society at large. Even though there’s a spike in violence due to socio-economic crisis, this perhaps begins from home or in primary schools. Most parents may not have released the trauma that they had experienced during the 70s and 80s. Therefore, they feel that they should act violently when disciplining their children. These are the people who say that they are in certain positions because their parents or teachers used to admonish them, beat them to correct their behaviours during their childhood. Certain high-skilled and educated individuals also share similar sentiments and sometimes we wonder whether their skills and education are of any value. We have to think whether everybody would be brave, skilled and educated had their parents and teachers punished them in their childhood.”

Prof. Chandradasa said that in countries such as Sweden and Finland, children don’t experience any form of violence while in school. “Another issue is that most people try to justify violence that takes place in society. Sometimes we hear parents saying that there’s a teacher who is tough in the new classroom, and therefore their child will adopt discipline in his/her school activities. Or some would say this teacher is lenient and doesn’t beat or scold children. Therefore, some parents are of the view that children cannot be disciplined without being violent. This way, society instils violence in the subconscious mind of a child. So, once they become young adults, there could be changes in the brain and behavioural pattern which could lead them to behave violently.”

Studies done over the past 10 years have shown that 40% of children between ages 13 and 14 have fallen victim to violence by another child. 80% of children between 13 and 15 have been assaulted in schools over the past few months. Hence, the children are introduced to violence by their parents and fellow children
- Prof. Chandradasa

He then explained how the ‘emotional brain’ functions stronger than the ‘thinking brain’ once a child becomes a young adult. “Therefore, they tend to be more aggressive. Studies done over the past 10 years have shown that 40% of children between ages 13 and 14 have fallen victim to violence by another child. 80% of children between 13 and 15 have been assaulted in schools over the past few months. Hence, the children are introduced to violence by their parents and fellow children. While in young adulthood, children develop ‘Oppositional Defiant behaviour’. Thereafter this violence could be released on their lovers, close associates and the society at large.”
Prof. Chandradasa also stressed on the importance of training teachers on behavioural methods so that they don’t become violent against children. Since children spend most of their time in school, it is therefore vitally important to minimise violence in schools.

Media has a bigger, greater role to play in terms of minimising the impact of violence on children. In most instances, parents go through depression and anxiety, but they are not being treated. People at home would ignore such conditions and would either delay treatments or generalise the condition saying that it’s normal among people to be stressed during these circumstances. But most incidents could have been avoided if such individuals are either referred to a government doctor or people are convinced to seek assistance by dialling 1926 to obtain national mental health helpline. 

Talking about the role of media and how journalists should be responsible in their reporting, Prof. Chandradasa further said that blurring the photo of a victim alone won’t do justice. “Family members will be harassed at this point. On the other hand, children who have no connection to the incident will also be watching news. They too will get violent thoughts when watching such news item. Journalists shouldn’t divulge any personal information about the victim or the method of suicide or any other crime in their report.”

In conclusion, he also stressed on the need to create environments in which children or young adults could release their violence. “There needs to be an environment in which they could express their emotions. But we usually block children from expressing their emotions. The best approach is to allow children to speak and for an adult to listen to them with patience. What is advisable is to identify violent behaviour in children early on and refer them to a doctor and inquire if the child needs to be referred to a psychologist,” he underscored.

Back in the day the breadwinner of a family was able to buy a sweet or a book for his child or a saree for his wife. But he cannot do that today. As a result, the child will not be happy and there will be arguments with the wife. In order to maintain a relationship, there needs to other facilities apart from love, friendship and care. Such bonds weaken in the face of an economic crisis.
- Prof. Mohamed Mahees

Understanding the sub-culture and redefining violence

Violence is usually defined as the use of physical force to injure, abuse, hurt, damage or destroy someone or something. But sociologists opine that the definition of violence has no relation to people’s lives. “There’s a process called ethno-methodology and we need to look at how these definitions relate to the common man,” opined Prof. Mohamed Mahees, Professor of Sociology at the University of Colombo. “There are various groups of people including those in the estate sector to fishermen, farmers, urban poor and people in low-income settlements. But if we don’t study about the sub-culture of low-income families, how can we talk about violence that takes place in their lives? Criminals are born innocent. But they learn criminal activities when they start living in society.”

 He then explained how people are now being controlled by opinions, contrary to early days where people were only controlled physically for certain acts of wrongdoing. “French philosopher Michel Foucault, author of History of Sexuality and the Order of Things talks about the Panopticon Effect or in other words, how people control themselves without their knowledge. He also refers to what is called a Carceral Society which in other words is a free but imprisoned society. By definition, it is the spreading of techniques for regulating human behaviour and surveillance processes typical of modern prisons throughout society as a whole. Therefore, modern man is being controlled all the time and therefore violence emerges as a result of power, power relations and the way this power is being used.”

Prof. Mahees further said that the prevailing economic crisis has a direct link to social and psychological issues. “Back in the day the breadwinner of a family was able to buy a sweet or a book for his child or a saree for his wife. But he cannot do that today. As a result, the child will not be happy and there will be arguments with the wife. In order to maintain a relationship, there needs to other facilities apart from love, friendship and care. Such bonds weaken in the face of an economic crisis.”

Negative implications of glorifying violence

Violence is often glorified on media. Even though murders constitute only 1% of violent incidents that happen around the world, where on TV, around 50% of violent incidents are murders. In his remarks, Krishan Siriwardene, lecturer at the Department of Communication and Creative Arts at the University of Colombo said that there are several modes of violence being showcased on TV. One of these modes is unpunished violence where there are certain programmes in which the villain is very violent but they are not being punished. But in a civilized society, the law will be enforced on people who are violent. Therefore, children will feel that there is no harm becoming violent. Then there is painless violence, where there is an individual who repeatedly falls victim to violence, but they don’t seem to be in pain. Happy violence on the other hand is mostly seen in cartoons where violence is portrayed as something that makes you happy. Most people enjoy cartoons where one person is continuously attacking another. Heroic violence is where violence is portrayed as a heroic act,” he explained.

Siriwardene further said that storifying acts of violence and adding creativity and aesthetic elements to violent incidents would do more harm than good. Such content will make people shape a different opinion about the perpetrator. Adding certain music and certain graphical representations of violent incidents such as cartoons and 3D animations will have a negative impact on viewers, especially children. Therefore, media institutions, publishers and journalists have a greater social responsibility when reporting incidents of violence,” he said in conclusion.