Structural Violence and Human Suffering

Part I

In the reading “Making Sense of Structural Violence”, four main points emerge as the most fundamental. First, is that structural violence is a major contributing factor to human suffering, resulting in disenfranchisement of various communities. Structural violence contributes to human suffering in ways such as increased morbidity and mortality due to inadequate resources to avert these occurrences. Secondly, an analysis of the nature of structural violence and its contribution to human suffering must be geographically broad and historically deep. Events resultant of structural violence such as genocides and wars often involve multiple players beyond the geographical confines. Such an analysis should also be historically deep to gain a full understanding of the role history and events in history play in human suffering as a result of structural violence. Thirdly, the vulnerability of individuals and groups to structural violence and human suffering may be orchestrated by social factors which include gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Finally, the prime victims of structural violence are the poor people who are not only most likely to suffer the consequences of structural violence but also less likely to have their suffering noticed and addressed. 

Part II

I agree with the point that the poor are the greatest victims of suffering from structural violence. While the various social factors such as race and gender provide an insight into the vulnerability of people to structural violence, it is poverty that places the greatest vulnerability. Looking at structural violence through the gender lens would reveal that women are confronted with sexism and a violation of their rights due to the existing power differential. An examination through the lens of race would intimate that African Americans are more susceptible to social injustices and structural violence against them based on their race. However, a wealthy woman is likely to be unscathed in the face of structural violence owing to her financial ability to cushion herself from such suffering. A wealthy African American is also likely to enjoy all the privileges accorded to a white person of the same class. Poor people, on the other hand, with little regard to their gender and ethnicity, are most likely to experience illnesses and premature death, the chief causes of human suffering brought by structural violence. The World Health Organization in fact recognizes poverty as the world’s greatest killer. Evidently the brunt of structural violence is most heavily borne by the poor people.