A culture of violence in Colombia?
(A first-time overview )
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2687-1262-2020-2-2-147-160Keywords:
culture of violence, “vertical” and “horizontal” violence, Colombia, mass consciousness, toleranceAbstract
When explaining the phenomenon of political violence, researchers usually focus on the socio-economic factors of this phenomenon. According to the author, the evidence from Colombia shows that the reason for the widespread violence in the country lies, primarily, in the socio-cultural predisposition to violence. The author tries to identify structural causes and conditions under which such cultures emerge. The study attempts to define the concept of the culture of violence, its characteristic and typical forms and manifestations in modern Colombia. In order to conduct a heuristic analysis of the issue, the author proposes to identify three structural indicators of the culture of violence, which should help to characterize this phenomenon. They include: (1) the ubiquity of violence; (2) the multiplicity of collective violent actors and their routines; and (3) the frequency and ease with which the transition from “simple”, rationally understandable acts of violence to violent excesses occurs, and the glaring discrepancy between the brutality of the means and the modesty of the ends pursued. The article also analyzes the manifestations of extreme forms of violence, which include mass and contract killings. The author of the article concludes that the Colombian society as a whole tolerates this kind of violence because, firstly, it is confident in at least partial guilt of the victims themselves, and, secondly, because if there is the slightest possibility of reaching a peaceful compromise, it is ready to accept a wide amnesty and neglect of crimes. The author then briefly discusses the main approaches and works of modern researchers focusing on the same issue. As a result, the author concludes that large-scale violence in Colombia cannot be explained without taking into account the socio-cultural factors that take place in the country, and the prospects for the elimination of this culture or its transformation in a more humanistic direction are unlikely in the near future.
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