Structural violence

Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.

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The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who introduced it in his 1969 article "Violence, Peace, and Peace Research".[1] Some examples of structural violence as proposed by Galtung include institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism, among others.[2][3] Structural violence and direct violence are said to be highly interdependent, including family violence, gender violence, hate crimes, racial violence, police violence, state violence, terrorism, and war.[4] It is very closely linked to social injustice insofar as it affects people differently in various social structures.[5]