Violence underpins American life, sociologist contends

Violence in America causes incalculable suffering, but it also supports the nation's social order and helps the country's elites maintain their control, argues Liam Downey, a University of Colorado Boulder associate professor of sociology.

Downey makes this case in a new book, "The Violent Underpinnings of American Life: How Violence Maintains Social Order in the U.S.," 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—as inherently peace-loving, harming others and resorting to violence only when absolutely necessary, "often in the name of freedom, human rights and democracy, and only when provoked or threatened by external enemies or deviant populations within its borders."

On the contrary, he contends, U.S. social order is buttressed and maintained by violence. Further, he writes, "unless we believe that humans' 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."

The role of violence

His analysis expands upon existing research and builds from his definitions of "violence" and "social order." Downey defines "violence" as "any action, inaction or property of the social structure that severely harms an individual, community or society, either physically, emotionally or psychologically."

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

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

"You 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," Downey says.

"What I'm 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," he adds, noting, for instance, that men benefit from patriarchy and whites benefit from racism.

"But you also have a set of economic and political elites who benefit from the entire social order. … So, while men benefit from patriarchy, many men are poor. Many belong to the working class. Many are unemployed. They're not benefitting from capitalism," Downey says.

"Elites benefit from all these systems."

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. "And that helps non-elite men to accept the social order."

About sexual harassment and rape, which are extremely widespread in the United States, he adds, "These forms of violence reinforce patriarchal discourses that say, "Women are of the body and men are of the mind and women are there to be used and objectified by men." These and other forms of violence against women also reinforce patriarchal discourses that say that women are emotional, irrational and unable to control themselves."

But, Downey points out, violence against women also reinforces "capitalist 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."

Downey's 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. "It makes it more difficult for Black people who have gone through the criminal justice system to get good jobs," he says, "and 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.

"This 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."

He further notes that police violence against African Americans is "justified 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."

"If White people think they're superior, that's 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."

'Fully and equally human'

Another way that violence supports social order is that it divides groups, Downey says. "White 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."

So why would that matter? "When subordinate groups are divided, they have less power to challenge elites," Downey observes. "So, 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."

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

In the end, Downey contends, "we live in a world and society that depend fundamentally on violent harm being done to others and, in many cases, to ourselves." Further, he says, "violence 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."

Downey concludes, "It is thus in the long-term interests of the vast majority of the world's 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.

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

Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder