麻豆影院

In new book, CU 麻豆影院 researcher Liam Downey argues that different forms of violence produce both consent to the social order and divisions among subordinate social groups, which helps to maintain the power and wealth of economic and political elites

Violence in America causes incalculable suffering, but it also supports the nation鈥檚 social order and helps the country鈥檚 elites maintain their control, argues Liam Downey, a 麻豆影院 associate professor of sociology.

Downey makes this case in a new book, , published in October by NYU Press.

In the work, Downey examines several kinds of violence: sexual and sexualized violence against women and police and political violence against Black people. He contends that these and other types of violence bolster the social order and preserve the power of elites.

Downey notes that the United States sees itself differently鈥攁s inherently peace-loving, harming others and resorting to violence only when absolutely necessary, 鈥渙ften in the name of freedom, human rights and democracy, and only when provoked or threatened by external enemies or deviant populations within its borders.鈥�

On the contrary, he contends, U.S. social order is buttressed and maintained by violence. Further, he writes, 鈥渦nless we believe that humans鈥� primary trait is a propensity for violence and that violence does not harm the psyches of those who engage in it and are victims of it, then relying on extremely high and sustained levels of violence to maintain our lifestyles and social order is alien to our innate humanity.鈥�

The role of violence

His analysis expands upon existing research and builds from his definitions of 鈥渧iolence鈥� and 鈥渟ocial order.鈥� Downey defines 鈥渧iolence鈥� as 鈥渁ny action, inaction or property of the social structure that severely harms an individual, community or society, either physically, emotionally or psychologically.鈥�

Downey underscores his interest in the role violence plays in producing a social order that benefits elites鈥攖hose who have the greatest influence in economic power networks, political power networks, military power networks and ideological power networks.

He defines 鈥渟ocial order鈥� as existing when social relations are 鈥渟table enough within that society that elites can regularly (though not necessarily always) achieve their goals and maintain or increase their advantaged position within society.鈥�

鈥淵ou can think of a social order as a set of economic, political, social and cultural rules and relationships. And these rules and relationships and the institutions that create them can produce more or less equal and violent outcomes,鈥� Downey says.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 arguing and what the evidence demonstrates is that, along these different dimensions (economic, political etc.), we have very high levels of inequality in this country, and this inequality benefits certain groups,鈥� he adds, noting, for instance, that men benefit from patriarchy and whites benefit from racism.

鈥淏ut you also have a set of economic and political elites who benefit from the entire social order. 鈥� So, while men benefit from patriarchy, many men are poor. Many belong to the working class. Many are unemployed. They鈥檙e not benefitting from capitalism,鈥� Downey says.

鈥淓lites benefit from all these systems.鈥�

Gaining some benefit

Downey notes that some might wonder why subordinate groups accept a social order that harms them. One argument is that many subordinate groups consent to the social order because they gain some benefit from that order that leads them to ignore or accept the harm they experience.

Men, for instance, derive an emotional and psychological benefit from the highly sexualized and violent portrayal of women in the media. 鈥淎nd that helps non-elite men to accept the social order.鈥�

麻豆影院 sexual harassment and rape, which are extremely widespread in the United States, he adds, 鈥淭hese forms of violence reinforce patriarchal discourses that say, 鈥榃omen are of the body and men are of the mind and women are there to be used and objectified by men.鈥� These and other forms of violence against women also reinforce patriarchal discourses that say that women are emotional, irrational and unable to control themselves.鈥�

But, Downey points out, violence against women also reinforces 鈥渃apitalist and racist discourses that make the same arguments about working people and racial and ethnic minorities. So, when you reinforce patriarchal discourses through sexual and sexualized violence, you also reinforce capitalist and racist discourses and therefore the overall social order that these discourses justify, thereby benefitting not just men and Whites but elites, too.鈥�

Downey鈥檚 book also cites research about the extremely high prevalence of police violence against African Americans, arguing that that violence helps to reduce competition between them and White people. 鈥淚t makes it more difficult for Black people who have gone through the criminal justice system to get good jobs,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd for their children to do well in school due to lack of resources and the emotional and psychological difficulties faced by young people who have a parent in prison,鈥� adding:

鈥淭his means that many African Americans have difficulty competing with Whites for jobs and for higher-priced housing in neighborhoods with quality schools. White people benefit materially and socially from this reduced competition, leading them to support the social order more than they otherwise might.鈥�

He further notes that police violence against African Americans is 鈥渏ustified by a whole set of violent and racist political discourses that denigrate Black people and elevate White people, that say that the former are inferior in some ways, and the latter are superior.鈥�

鈥淚f White people think they鈥檙e superior, that鈥檚 a psychological benefit that increases their support of the social order. Moreover, violence against women does the same thing: it both benefits men and reinforces discourses that say that men are superior, and women are inferior.鈥�

鈥楩ully and equally human鈥�

Another way that violence supports social order is that it divides groups, Downey says. 鈥淲hite people and Black people are divided over the issue of police violence, for example, and in fact, many Whites are divided over this issue, too.鈥�

So why would that matter? 鈥淲hen subordinate groups are divided, they have less power to challenge elites,鈥� Downey observes. 鈥淪o, creating divisions between African Americans and Whites, and between different groups of White people, makes it harder for these groups to achieve common goals and to weaken elite power, thereby promoting overall social order.鈥�

Similarly, men and women are divided through sexual and sexualized violence, 鈥渕aking it harder for them to work together to challenge the elite-driven social order.鈥�

In the end, Downey contends, 鈥渨e live in a world and society that depend fundamentally on violent harm being done to others and, in many cases, to ourselves.鈥� Further, he says, 鈥渧iolence is not solely a characteristic of subordinate groups and the deviant but is instead a key property of the U.S. and global social systems that helps elites oppress and exploit non-elites both in this country and around the world.鈥�

Downey concludes: 鈥淚t is thus in the long-term interests of the vast majority of the world鈥檚 people to eradicate violence and to treat every person and group in the world as if they are what they truly are: fully and equally human, deserving of human rights and dignity, full and healthy lives, and the chance to develop their abilities, talents and creativity to their fullest.

鈥淭reating people in this way is, of course, also the morally correct thing to do. It is thus time that we start doing it.鈥�

Top image: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images

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