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Week 4 –
violence,
peacemaking, &
peacebuilding
(Chapter 20)
ONCEMORE MBEVE
W I T S AC M S R E S E A RC H E R + YO U R L E C T U R E R

PSYCH1009 SLOT E
NB: Please feel free to send a WhatsApp text/audio anytime, but I will respond
only during the reasonable working hours
10/9/2024
 because…
➢Rampant violence across the world – including in
South Africa
➢Psychologists can play a critical role to address
violence and its devastating effects
 Background
➢2014, violence claimed 1.3million lives globally
(WHO)
➢91% happened in low to middle-income countries
➢Even after entering the 21st century, South Africa:
➢Still carries an international reputation for violence
➢Terrible criminal, sexual, and family violence

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 Violence
➢Working definition:
…intentional use of physical force or power, threatened
or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a
group or community, that either results in or has a high
likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological
harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

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 Current definition
problems
➢If act has to be intentional to be violence, what
about:
➢ Driving under influence of alcohol, accidentally killing a
pedestrian
➢Insufficient safety provisions at work, hurting
employees
➢Small child falls off a swing while her caregiver is not
watching her
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 Comprehensive
definition?
Violence is…
where harm arises as a result of society’s laws,
regulations and norms of due care being ignored, an act
of violence has taken place, even when harm was not
intended.

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 Types of violence
➢Domestic violence
➢Violence for material gain
➢Sexual violence
➢State and collective violence
➢Self-directed violence

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 Domestic violence 1
➢Great deal of violence happens within families
and homes
➢Traditionally conceptualised as violence against
women
➢More than 600 million women live in countries
were domestic violence is not considered a crime
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 Domestic violence 2
➢Also happens between gay couples, children
(including neglect), intimate partners, and elderly
➢Victims often trapped within abusive situations
because of social norms and economic pressure

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 Violence for material
gain 1
➢Violence motivated by desire for material gains:
➢Muggings, armed robberies, hijackings, cash-in-transit
heists

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 Violence for material
gain 2
➢South Africa has extremely high levels of violence
for material gains
➢Murders carried out for purposes of making medicines
➢Ritual murders – spiritual purposes to obtain fortune or
cleansing

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 Sexual violence
➢Responsible for very high levels of traumatic
stress in society
➢Also very high in South Africa
➢Includes:
➢Rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, molestation
or sexual harassment
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 State and collective
violence
➢Been a constant part of the South African society
➢Colonialism, apartheid, segregation

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 State and collective
violence
➢Several wars: settlers vs indigenous South Africans
➢Militarisation of South African society – training young
people to fight in struggle
➢Acts of terror committed by the apartheid regime and
the liberation armies
➢Hate crimes, and genocides – examples of collective
crimes

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 Self-directed violence
➢Usually associated with great emotional pain and
despair
➢Examples:
➢Suicide and self-mutilation

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 Theories of violence
➢Socio-biological explanations
➢Social learning explanations
➢Group explanations

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 Socio-biological
explanations 1
➢All humans, like most other animals, have an
innate capacity for violence
➢Enables humans to hunt, protect resources, and
respond to threats
➢These are fundamental for survival

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 Socio-biological
explanations 2
➢However, this theory does not help social scientists
predict:
➢Who will commit what kind of violence and under what
circumstances
➢Making it difficult to prevent violence

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 Social learning
explanations
➢Bandura’s (1973) social learning theory –
behaviour is learned through:
➢Direct reinforcement
➢Modelling
➢Reinforcement – punishment or reward
➢Modelling – people learn from watching others
➢Children likely to learn violence home – e.g. parents
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 Group explanations
➢People act differently when in group compared to alone
➢Theories talk to, social influence such as, obedience,
conformity, group think
➢In groups, people form mobs – unthinking and inherently
violent
➢Insider-outsider, prejudice etc.
➢For example, locals vs migrants
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 Effects of violence
➢Effects can be seen at individual, small-group,
community, and societal levels
➢The effects are clustered into:
➢Fragmentation and disempowerment

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 Fragmentation
➢Breaking up or destruction of important linkages
➢Individual level, forms of fragmentation associated with
sexual abuse – traumatic amnesia and dissociation
➢Group level, violence can break up family structures
➢Community level, political action may disrupt workplaces,
schools, religious institutions etc.
➢Societal level, war may lead to fragmentation of the
whole society
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 Disempowerment
➢People’s inability to fulfill their appropriate
functions in their families, communities, or society

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 Traumatic stress –
Individual 1
➢Humans have mechanisms to survive in a
dangerous world
➢Mostly they would endure traumatic experience with
no lasting psychological disturbances

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 Traumatic stress –
Individual 2
➢But, traumatic experiences:
➢Likely to cause a short period of emotional upset – 2-4
weeks
➢During this period – helpful for friends and family to
support the affected person
➢Need to assure them that what they are feeling is healthy

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 Traumatic stress –
individual 3
➢Re-experiencing symptoms
➢Avoidance symptoms
➢Arousal symptoms
➢Alterations in cognition and mood

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 Re-experiencing
symptoms
➢Associated thoughts, feelings, psychological
responses and behaviours that remain with the
person long after the traumatic event
➢May include: memories, intrusive images,
nightmare, or flashbacks

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 Avoidance symptoms
➢Strategies people use to try to prevent the fear
and pain caused by their ongoing re-experiencing of
the event
➢People may stay away from the people, places and
activities that remind them of the experience

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 Arousal symptoms
➢Related to our highly developed survival mechanisms
➢After traumatic experience people often:
➢Find it difficult to fall asleep, easily woken, often hyper-
vigilant (constantly alert to anger), very jumpy and quick to
anger
➢Example, a woman who was raped might find that she
constantly scans groups of people for the perpetrator

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Alterations in cognition and
mood
➢Traumatic event may also be associated with negative
alterations in cognition and mood
➢Victims may struggle to remember features of an event –
dissociative amnesia
➢May show persistent and distorted sense of blame
towards self or others
➢May also become detached from others or activities they
usually enjoyed
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 Violence prevention &
recovery
➢Individual-level interventions
➢Small groups-level interventions
➢Community-level interventions
➢Societal-level interventions
All revolve around empowering and linking

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 Individual-level
interventions
➢Programmes teaching children how to resolve
conflicts non-violently
➢Helping children identify protective places and
adults in their community
➢Often run through counselling

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 Small group-level
interventions
➢Counselling – helps families communicate more
effectively and can help reduce domestic violence
➢Help youth gangs that survive by crime to find
other ways to earn a living
➢Group work therapy assumes:
➢People are able to offer each other deep support and
assistance during the time of crisis
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 Community-level
interventions
➢Bring together people who live in a community to
create neigbourhood watch systems
➢Mobilise community groups as:
➢Churches, schools, youth clubs, and sports teams

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 Societal-level
interventions
➢Deepen democratic processes in a country
➢Encourage people to value diversity
➢Influence policy changes

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Societal and community level examples
Protest against xenophobia, (ACMS) Hillbrow, 2019
Silent protest against sexual violence,
(CCDU) Wits, 2015

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 Peace psychology
➢Peacemaking
➢Peacebuilding

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Peacemaking Peacebuilding
Addressing direct violence Addressing structural
violence
Focusing on non-violent means Focusing on socially just ends

Preventing violence Promoting social justice

Responding to the threat/use Responding to long-term

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 Conflict resolution 1
➢Provides techniques to deal with disputes non-
violently
➢Avoids dominance or oppression by one party
over the other
➢Uses methods that promote dialogue, empathy,
and win-win consequences
➢Rather than exploiting one party, aims to meet
the human needs of all
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 Conflict resolution 2
➢Uses the knowledge of psychological process to
build on the positive potential inherent in conflict
➢This minimises destructive consequences
➢It acknowledges the influence of the social context
within which conflict is embedded

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 Principles for conflict
resolution 1
➢Conflict resolution is supported by cooperation not
competition
➢Integrative solutions are pursued through
mediation and direct negotiation

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 Principles for conflict
resolution 2
➢Interests of all parties are understood and
responded to as they are all considered to be
equally legitimate
➢Conflict resolution process and its outcome are
non-violent

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 Cultural context of
peacemaking
➢Common approaches:
➢North America and Europe often individualistic
➢Other cultures often collectivist in approach
➢Both approaches work, as long they yield positive
results

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 Reconciliation within
the peace framework 1
➢Reconciliation considered central to the
psychological and spiritual dimensions of
peacemaking

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 Reconciliation within
the peace framework 2
➢Rests on rebuilding relationships through:
➢Developing shared vision of interdependent and fair
society
➢Acknowledging and dealing with the past
➢Building positive relationships
➢Significant cultural and attitudinal change
➢Substantial socioeconomic and political change
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 Reconciliation within
the peace framework 3
Where are we in South Africa with these?
How are these helpful in dealing with the past and present
violence so far?

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 Hoped results for
peacemaking
➢Contribution to building a peaceful society
➢Directing structural arrangements and cultural
narratives at:
➢Promoting human security and wellbeing
➢Reducing inequality and oppression

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 Peacebuilding 1
➢Alleviates structural violence which is:
➢Social domination, political oppression, and economic
exploitation of individuals and groups
➢Example of structural violence – globalisation
(contributing to vast global inequalities)

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 Peacebuilding 2
➢Makes efforts to redress inequalities and other
forms of violence, including by:
➢Creating local, regional , and global conditions
conducive for social transformation

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 Dominant themes in
peacebuilding
➢Challenge dominant cultural discourses
➢Honour multiple voices and co-construction of
social change
➢Adoption of an activist agenda
➢Sustainable satisfaction of basic human needs

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 Psychologist actions
to promote peace 1
➢Engage in sensitisation or consciousness-raising
to contribute to agenda setting and public dialogue
➢Offer expertise on issues of social justice and
peace
➢Focus on training, education, research programme
design and evaluation, and human rights monitoring

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 Psychologist actions
to promote peace 2
➢Be activists
➢Consider issues as: non-violence, empowerment and
mobilisation
➢Critical discourse at multiple levels
➢Establish psychological organisations committed to
mobilising for peace

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 Psychologist actions
to promote peace 3
➢Influence public policy
➢Conduct research to inform policy development
➢Offer psychologically informed critiques of existing
policies
➢Monitor policies, mobilise public opposition to
destructive policies

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Continue exploring your world, and the universe at large!
Never stop moving forward. Bye, bye!
- Once. 10/9/2024