Violence and Social Life in Colombia

Abstract

The fragmentation of experience is a recurring topic in contemporary social science literature and is a central thread running through the proposals of so-called post-structuralist thinkers. However, the Colombian experience seems to point to the limitations of the conceptual exaltation of fragmentation as a condition for current social life. What happens in society, one may ask, when in effect the state weakens to the point that it is incapable of stopping society’s disintegration into conflicting bands? Does not the weakening of the state run parallel to the weakening of citizen action? This article proposes that the types of violence which have increased during the last few years affect social consciousness (mainly by producing a sense of social fragmentation); there is a perception of living in a society containing a variety of criminal forces and types, which people feel relatively helpless to do anything about. It is also proposed that this perception is part of a critical learning chain in which shared cultural meanings and experiences concerning domestic violence intersect and serve as reference to orientate public life. The cultural representation of authority as being arbitrary is key, and is found at the cognitive and the emotional heart of acts of domestic and public violence.