Sociocultural Factors of Violence: Examining Cultural Schemas and Social Learning

1. Biopsychosocial origins of violence: Read and Outline pp. 749-756.Panel Discussion: What causes young people to join gangs and participate in gang activity?

2. Obj.3.1 Evaluate sociocultural origins of violence.

3. More specifically…Evaluate one social explanation and one cultural explanation for the origin of violence.

4. Are murderers, gang members, terrorist, and other violent people violent by nature or violent by nurture?How can nature or nurture explain violent behavior?

5. Understanding violence • Violence - Interpersonal violence is defined as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against another person or against a group or community that results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation" (Dahlberg and Krug 2002).

6. Major sociocultural assumptions Cultural and social norms are highly influential in shaping individual behavior. • The social situations, more so than dispositions explain human behavior. • Culture plays a large role in your behavior. • With these assumption sociocultural factors can have a significant influence on violent behavior within the context of a social situation or culture.

7. Explanations that will be evaluated • Cultural schemas for violence: A culture of violent behavior. • Social Learning Theory: Violence can be learned from environmental factors.

8. The impact of culture on violent behavior • Cultural norms are rules or expectations of behavior within a specific culture. • Often unspoken, these norms offer social standards of appropriate and inappropriate behavior, governing what is (and is not) acceptable and coordinating our interactions with others.

9. The impact of culture on violent behavior Cultural and social norms can encourage violence. • Cultural and social norms are highly influential in shaping individual behavior, including the use of violence.

10. The impact of culture on violent behavior Cultural and social norms can encourage violence. • Norms can protect against violence, but they can also support and encourage the use of it. • For instance, cultural acceptance of violence, either as a normal method of resolving conflict or as a usual part of rearing a child, is a risk factor for all types of interpersonal violence

11. How can violence be seen as a norm through child rearing?

12. Some cultures may support violent behavior. • Cultural norms supporting different types of violence: • Cultural and social norms are rules or expectations of behavior within a specific cultural or social group. • Often unspoken, these norms offer social standards of appropriate and inappropriate behavior, governing what is (and is not) acceptable and coordinating our interactions with others

13. Some cultures may support violent behavior. • Cultural and social norms do not necessarily correspond with an individual’s attitudes and beliefs, although they may influence these attitudes and beliefs if norms becomes internalized. • This is how one can develop cultural schemas for violent behavior in certain social situations.

14. Some cultures may support violent behavior. • Cultural norms supporting different types of violence • Intimate partner violence • Cultural Norm: A man has a right to assert power over a woman and is socially superior (e.g. India, Nigeria, Ghana). • According to a 2002 International Center for Research on Women study, 45 percent of reported Indian women are physically or verbally challenged by their husbands. India also had the highest rate of violence during pregnancy.

15. Some cultures may support violent behavior. • Cultural norms supporting different types of violence • A woman’s freedom should be restricted (e.g. Pakistan). • Physical violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflicts within a relationship (e.g. South Africa, United States).

16. Understanding the cultural of poverty.

17. The culture of poverty • The culture of poverty is not just a matter of deprivation or disorganization, a term signifying the absence of something. • It is a culture in the traditional anthropological sense in that it provides human beings with a design for living, with a ready-made set of solutions for human problems, and so serves a significant adaptive function.

18. The culture of poverty • Oscar Lewis coined the term culture of poverty in his 1961 book The Children of Sanchez. Lewis based his thesis on his ethnographic studies of small Mexican communities. • His studies uncovered approximately 50 attributes shared within these communities: frequent violence, desensitization to violence, etc.

19. The culure of poverty

20. The culture of poverty • Despite studying very small communities, Lewis extrapolated his findings to suggest a universal culture of poverty. • More than 45 years later, the premise of the culture of poverty paradigm remains the same: that people in poverty share a consistent and observable "culture” and so serves a significant adaptive function.

21. Violent results of “poverty culture” The federal government's Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) found that: • Abuse is three times more common in poor families. This was more of a predictor of abuse than race.

22. Correlations between poverty and abuse • Cultural norms for people living in poverty mirror the risk factors for child abuse (RCA): • Resorting to crime for financial means (RCA) • Aggressive dispositions (RCA) • Lack of social support (RCA) • High stressful environments (RCA) • Lack of parenting skills (RCA)

23. Violence begets violence:The social circle of violence

24. Social Learning • As we have previously learned, children learn antisocial behavior through observational learning (Bandura). • The social learning theory holds that people are not born as violent individuals but rather they learn violent behavior by watching and imitating the behavior of others.

25. What would social learning theory suggest about children who are victims of child abuse?

26. Social Learning Theory • The social learning theory is often linked to domestic abuse because a great number of people who batter their intimate partners learned to be violent from their role models during childhood.

27. Social Learning Theory • Humans and animals learn by watching the actions of others, children who grow up in violent homes or high crime communities are more likely to adopt violent behaviors as a means of dealing with conflict or simply getting what they want than those who grow up in low crime areas. • In cases where the use of violence achieves the desired result, this behavior will typically become a means of achieving one's goals.

28. Evaluation of Sociocultural origins of violence

29. Thinking critically about sociocultural origins of violence • Other explanations: • Diffusion of Responsibility • Majority and Minority Influence • Deindividuation

30. Thinking critically about sociocultural origins of violence • What are the strengths of using social factors to explain violence? • Can social or cultural explanations alone explain violence? • What other factors would also influence violence that should be considered? • Can various research methods provide greater insight into violence?

31. Questions?