General Understanding of Violence
Violence may be considered one of the most complex issues that can be investigated because it extends deep into human history and is present in all classes of society without exception.
It may exist in the smallest details of our lives or our sayings, but its complexity does not mean not to delve into it, but it requires a lot of preparation and self-training on this matter.
The motives and causes of violence are always related to the needs of the individual and the group.
Of course, when we talk about the group, we are talking about an organic entity independent of the individual or a developed entity, its needs are quantitatively and qualitatively different, and this means if we want to research or study the needs of the group in order to deal with them, they must be in a different way and in different techniques.
Maslow’s Pyramid is a fairly famous pyramid, as famous as the pyramids of Egypt.
It has many layers, which are basically five layers, and each layer contains many human needs, which start with physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, appreciation needs, and ultimately the need for self-actualization.
What concerns us here is how we deal with Maslow’s pyramid because the general reading of this pyramid is very simple.
People read that we must satisfy physiological needs and then go to the next need and this is a simplification of the human mind or a simplification of the dynamics of human society.
Human society or man is more complex than this, which means that these needs are intertwined needs, that is, if a person is hungry or poor, he should not think of writing a philosophical book on existentialism, for example, or making a movie because he is hungry.
Hence, we see that the needs are greatly intertwined.
If we want to talk about a violent person, if the reason or motive behind his violence is poverty, for example, and there are many other reasons.
If we want to deal with this violence, it does not mean that we give him a food basket and think that it is over. In every interaction with a specific violent need, it is necessary to satisfy the other needs of this human being.
Therefore, it is necessary to think that human needs are overlapping needs and needs that complement each other, and this is useful in the projects that we want to undertake or that we want to engage in. Our projects must meet the different needs and not focus on a specific need of individuals. The activity must always meet the different needs of this individual.
If we want to examine the motives and causes of violence, we will see that they are studied in detail in thousands of books, researches and studies.
Here comes the question: Why can’t we overcome violence?
Why violent behavior is present in humans continuously in societies and sometimes it is very violent.
Certainly, humans do not lack the physical or human capabilities to deal with violence, but the absent constant in the equation may be the system of violence, the method or the perception in which we see violence, and this is the essential violence that we need to think about seriously, because it is the basis for understanding violence or the basis that determines the way we should deal with violence.
There are a range of perspectives from which people view violence:
Moral Perspective: Which looks not only on violence but on many other matters, including sickness previously as well.
The moral perspective is usually based on general perceptions and stereotypes regarding violence, according to the moral perspective there will be good violence, justified violence because it serves certain ends.
And there will be unjustified violence because it serves ends opposite or contrary to ours.
As a result, what will we have?
We will have a wrong diagnosis.
If we want to study violence, the violent situation differs from one individual to another, even if they practice the same violent pattern, meaning that dealing with individuals will be different, let alone dealing with groups.
If the diagnosis is wrong, we go back and say we will go to another level, which is the level of treatment. The wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong treatment, or it will be inaccurate and may lead to new disasters.
Knowing that we must bear in mind that the moral deterrent in societies is still effective in maintaining the safety of societies and should not be neglected in the matter of preventing or mitigating the effects of violence.
The economic perspective: It is based on the conflict between the classes of society and has its effects on the cultural, social and political aspects within these societies, and it is an important aspect of the study of violence within societies.
Physiological or biological perspective: It is based on studies of DNA and hormones and their effects on aggressive behaviors or violent behaviors. It is a research perspective that may be important for some people, but for us, the process of dealing or stopping violence within societies will not be a very useful perspective.
Neuropsychosocial perspective: This perspective is of great interest to us because the health approach depends on this perspective in particular, because it views violence as a behavior like other behaviors and thus is shaped like other behaviors.
If it is a learned behavior, this means that we can change it by specifically using the mechanisms that shape the behavior.
In this perspective, we use a lot of social, psychological or even neurological studies on the human brain.
The human brain of aggressive people or peaceful people will help us to understand violence itself, and delving into it will be useful for creating mechanisms to deal with violence.
Also, gender-based violence, which intersects with all perspectives from the ethical, economic, biological, social and psychological perspective, but to varying degrees, and this is very complex.
In sum, all these perceptions are useful perspectives for understanding violence, and we cannot focus on one aspect at the expense of others.
In all societies there will always be specific factors that we deal with in different ways.