The Epistemology of Violence by Beth M. Titchiner

Author:Beth M. Titchiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030129118
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The introduction of neoliberal economic policy was accompanied by a ‘substantial increase in the openness of the economy to foreign trade, [and] a dramatic retreat of the state’s participation in the economy’ (Amann and Baer 2002, p. 957). This reopened the doors for foreign imports, and existing industries had to deal with a reduction in market share. The economy began to shift from industrial to service-based enterprise as newly privatised companies4 were encouraged to install labour-saving technologies, and substantial numbers of workers were dismissed. Between 1990 and 1997 employment in manufacturing dropped by 40% (Saad-Filho 2012).

This huge reduction of job opportunities in the industrial sector was, however, not compensated by a comparable increase of opportunities in the service sector (ibid.). What opportunities did exist were more poorly paid and less secure (Amann and Baer 2002), while the wages of the minority who remained in the industrial sector increased. Public utilities were also privatised, and as incentive to the new owners, regulators allowed price-hikes. For people living in Rio de Janeiro for example, the cost of public services rose by 90% between 1990 and 1994, massively increasing the cost of living (ibid.). These examples illustrate how rather than resulting in a ‘trickle-down effect’, neoliberal restructuring has perpetuated poverty and economic inequality in Brazil.

Gillespie (2006) argues that the structural deficits caused by neoliberal modernism (displacement from the land, joblessness, migration to urban areas, social dislocation and isolation, greater income inequality, and increased poverty) lead to social disorganisation and violence. According to Huggins (2000), at the time of writing, the richest 10% of Brazil’s population earned 69.5 times more than the poorest 10%. This, along with the endurance of powerful political elites throughout Brazil’s history, is a good indicator of structural violence which Galtung (1996), Galtung and Hivik (1971), Montiel and Wessells (2001), and Nagler (1997) argue results from an unequal distribution of economic and political power where one class benefits from this disparate system while another suffers.

This level of structural inequality, research has shown (cf. Bourguignon 2001; Fajnzylber et al. 2002; Wade 2004), can foster frustration, aggression, and interpersonal violence. Smith (2012) argues that this has contributed to the high levels of interpersonal violence in Brazil, which have increased since the introduction of neoliberalism. Andrade and Lisboa (2000) also found dramatic increases in homicide rates in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo that coincide with the structural adjustments introduced in the 1990s: in Rio de Janeiro the rate of male homicides per 100,000 inhabitants aged 5–24 rose from 149 in 1981 to 275 in 1995, while in São Paulo the rates for the 5–14 and 24–44 age bracket more than doubled, rising from 54 to 128, and 49 to 106 respectively for the same period.

Violence disproportionately affects Brazil’s poor, with homicide numbers being the highest in areas with the most poverty (Gillespie 2006) and socioeconomic disparity (Gawryszewski and Lucianna 2005). Part of this has been attributed to the state, which Aiyer (2001) suggests acts in a disciplinary manner, working to enforce social control under the neoliberal regime.

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