Anthropological Perspective on Violence

• NCJ Number: 75688
• Journal: International Journal of Environmental Studies Volume: 10 Dated: (January 1977) Pages: 107-111
• Author(s): J R Corbin
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Substance of a paper presented at a National Conference on Crime and Violence at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, England, March 16, 1976.

Annotation

An anthropological model which helps explain the meaning of violence is presented, and its implications are discussed.

Abstract

The model's premise is that persons have both physical and conceptual integrity and that events can threaten both physical and conceptual boundaries. The conceptual boundaries are those which extend beyond the body and include such concepts as personal space and private property as well as those ideas by which individuals understand events in the world. The physical destruction of an object is an event which may also 'attack' or 'threaten' the mental concept of that object held by those experiencing the event. The physical effect may be referred to as 'destruction' and the mental effect as 'violation.' In rape, the physical attack is less significant than the mental violation. The amount of physical force used and the physical damage done are not crucial, but neither judicial punishment of the rapist nor monetary compensation to the person raped can redress the mental damage done. This may help explain why women are often reluctant to take cases of rape to the courts. Burglary, like rape, is a violation of the self. The image of 'breaking and entering' could as easily be applied to the one as the other; and the attack on the conceptual boundary also cannot be easily compensated through modern forms of retribution. In other cultures, vengeance and ritual help erase the conceptual violation, but Western culture outlaws the first and is poorly equipped for the second. Eight references and notes are included.