A Violence Continuum

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 6 revisits the topic of violence. It challenges the modern criminal law’s focus on interpersonal forms of violence, which fails to adequately address the violence of states, corporate actors, and other groups. The theoretical device of the ‘continuum of violence’ developed by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philippe Bourgois is employed to widen conceptions of violence beyond the individual. From this theoretical viewpoint, two additional forms of violence come into view: structural violence and symbolic violence. Structural violence is explored in three ways: first, in relation to the workplace injuries of former steelworkers who suffered lifelong and fatal conditions due to the failure of employers to provide adequate health and safety equipment; second, in relation to residents’ exposure to toxic air following the failure of the local state to safely dispose of toxic waste after the closure of the steelworks, leading to multiple birth defects; and third, injuries related to the state-led demolition of parts of the Lincoln council estate. Symbolic violence is explored as part of the historical process outlined in the Introduction, in which poverty is reconceptualized as a marker of immorality. A tendency emerges, which is core to the criminal law, which relegates structural factors to the background and places responsibility on those harmed by structural and symbolic violence. The final section considers the reality of unemployment and challenges the propensity to blame individuals for the wider injuries they must endure.