Slow violence (concept)
Slow violence is a concept that describes harm inflicted gradually over long periods, often resulting from systemic injustices such as inequality, racism, and sexism. Unlike direct forms of violence that are immediately visible and prosecutable, slow violence manifests through the accumulation of adverse effects on individuals and communities, leading to psychological damage, poor health, and diminished lifespans. This type of violence can be particularly insidious, as those affected may perceive their circumstances as normal, making it difficult to identify the underlying causes of their suffering.
The concept was popularized by scholar Rob Nixon, who highlighted the often invisible nature of slow violence, particularly in relation to environmental degradation and climate change. For example, communities living near toxic waste sites or experiencing the long-term effects of industrial pollution often bear the brunt of health crises without immediate recognition of the violence they face. Additionally, slow violence disproportionately impacts marginalized populations, who may lack the political power or resources to escape these harmful environments. Overall, slow violence emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing the long-term consequences of systemic injustices and environmental neglect on vulnerable communities.
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Subject Terms
Slow violence (concept)
Slow violence refers to harm that is done over long periods of time, such as years or decades. The effects on victims accumulate gradually. This violence can result from inequalities, racism, sexism, and other forms of entrenched systemic injustice. The results of slow violence manifest as psychological damage, poor health, and shortened lifespans, among others.
While the results are quantifiable, determining which factors caused the damage can be difficult. In fact, individuals living in environments that inflict slow violence may view the situations as normal. While commonly understood forms of violence such as physical abuse are prosecutable, slow violence usually is not. Slow violence may directly affect individuals and communities but also impacts society overall.
Background
Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung developed ideas about structural violence during the 1960s. Galtung became an international expert on the study and practice of peace after growing up under Nazi control in Norway. He was in Varanasi, India, working at the Centre for Gandhian Studies in 1969. In the evening he went up to the building’s flat roof. There he could hear hungry children crying and see homeless and sick people who were uncared for and hopeless. Galtung thought this slow death by hunger, disease, or other harm was a form of violence as much as war or crime was. Galtung dubbed this structural violence, as opposed to direct violence.
Galtung further explored indirect violence when he explained his ideas about cultural violence in 1990. He viewed this as society’s justifications for both direct and structural violence through discrimination in multiple arenas, such as education, literature, and even the choice of whom to hail as heroes in erecting public monuments.
As a result of Galtung’s ideas of structural violence, other researchers looked at the effects it had on societies. Some examined the life expectancy and per capita income across countries, which correlates with increases in income. They found that privileged individuals’ life expectancy increases quickly early in life but later, as income increases, slows considerably. They calculated that increasing a person’s per capita income by $100, from $100 to $200, had a much greater impact than increasing the per capita income of some making $20,000 by $100. The researchers concluded that if per capita income in 1965 had been equally distributed around the world, fourteen million lives could have been saved that year alone. A United Nations (UN) study calculated that deaths caused by structural violence were akin to dropping 236 Hiroshima bombs on the world’s children every year.
Princeton University scholar Rob Nixon coined the term slow violence. He was the first to suggest that the effects of structural violence could build up over years and even generations. He characterized slow violence as being invisible. Environmental changes from pollution, for example, can be so slow as to go unnoticed until its effects become obvious.
Overview
Inequality is a common factor of many types of slow violence. Galtung noted that a significant impact of slow violence is often a limitation of individuals’ potential. People with more privilege have more control over their environment and opportunities to escape many of the causes. This is most true of environmental issues, although air and water pollution are often uncontained and can affect people at all socioeconomic levels. People with less privilege are also more likely to be affected by institutional racism and other forms of slow violence.
Slow violence is often linked to environmental concerns. These include long-term pollution and global climate change. It may be caused by industries that have slowly affected environments within the law and government policies or catastrophes that continue to resonate. Examples are communities that live near or over landfills and dumps; polluted rivers that flow hundreds of miles through countless communities; and disasters with wide-reaching consequences, such as the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
Environmental slow violence is evident in the region of the United States through which the southernmost waters of the Mississippi River flow. This area is one of the most polluted parts of the country and referred to as Cancer Alley (Davies, 2019). The densest concentration of chemical plants in the Americas is located there, which has led to dangerous pollution in the Mississippi River. Some elderly residents express awareness of the slow changes caused by pollution in their communities. However, chemical plants are usually located near low-income communities, in particular Black communities, whose residents have little political clout. They also are likely to have fewer opportunities to move away from these areas.
Climate change’s impact is evident in communities worldwide and disproportionately affects the disadvantaged. Changes in precipitation patterns have caused droughts in areas that did not experience them before and exacerbated them in others. The people most affected by drought are often those living in poverty who already struggle to obtain clean water. Failure of crops is likely to push them farther into poverty. Meanwhile, other areas are seeing extreme weather such as more and stronger hurricanes. For example, Hurricane Marie devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. Those with the means could leave the island if they wished but could also afford to rebuild. Those in poor communities most often lived in remote areas where aid was slow to arrive. As of 2021, many of the people in those areas were still trying to rebuild.
Global climate change affects coasts of every continent as the polar ice melts and ocean levels rise. Some of the world’s poorest countries, such as the Maldives, are expected to be most affected. Experts warn of the possibility of mass migration and the creation of large groups of climate refugees as lands are swallowed up by the oceans. Similar troubles can be found in impoverished communities of wealthy nations. Louisiana, for example, sits at a very low elevation. Levees have been built higher and higher but flooding in many communities has been getting more severe.
Individuals with less privilege often experience multiple forms of slow violence. For example, low-income communities are more likely to be exposed to pollution. This can negatively affect individuals’ health. Poor health can lead to loss of income, which can leave individuals with no way to escape the pollution and few healthcare resources. Further, communities with less privilege lack the power to influence decisions such as where to permit industries that cause pollution to operate and whether to force them to clean up pollution. They may have little influence in how public funds that could benefit the community are spent.
The psychological effects of slow violence may be less obvious but can be significant. Concerns about flooding, drought, or other hardships, for example, take a toll on individuals, increasing fear, anxiety, and depression. Studies show such stresses can have a strong negative effect on health.
Bibliography
Baurick, Tristan. “Poverty, Air Pollution Cause Cancer Spike in Louisiana Industrial Areas, Tulane Study Says.” NOLA.com, 24 June 2021, www.nola.com/news/environment/article‗4e66d730-d51c-11eb-9c7d-af03bda4a245.html. Accessed 16 July 2021.
Brydolf-Horwitz, Rachel. “Embodied and Entangled: Slow Violence and Harm Via Digital Technologies.” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 9 Aug. 2018, doi.org/10.1177/2399654418791825. Accessed 16 July 2021.
Davies, Thom. “Slow Violence and Toxic Geographies: ‘Out of Sight’ to Whom?” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 10 Apr. 2019, doi.org/10.1177/2399654419841063. Accessed 16 July 2021.
Fisher, Richard. “The Invisible Impact of Slow Violence.” BBC, 31 Jan. 2021, www.bbc.com/future/article/20210127-the-invisible-impact-of-slow-violence. Accessed 16 July 2021.
Galtung, Johan, and Dietrich Fischer. “Johan Galtung, the Father of Peace Studies.” SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, vol. 5, Springer, 30 May 2013, pp. 3–23, doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32481-9‗1.
Köhler, G., and N. Alcock. “An Empirical Table of Structural Violence.” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 12, no. 4, 1976, pp. 343–356.
Nixon, Rob. “Slow Violence.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 26 June 2011, www.chronicle.com/article/slow-violence/. Accessed 16 July 2021.
Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard UP, 2011.
Willett, Jennifer L. “The Slow Violence of Climate Change in Poor Rural Kenyan Communities” ‘Water Is Life. Water Is Everything.” Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal, vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/crsw/vol7/iss1/6. Accessed 16 July 2021.