Structural violence is a form of violence where some social groups are harmed in favor of another. Most common structural violence are elitism, ethnocentrism, classism, racism, sexism, adultism, nationalism, heterosexism, ageism, and discrimination based on dis/ability. Elitism is the belief that certain members of a group who has superiority in intellect, social status, or financial resources deserve favored treatment. Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the values and standards of one's own culture. Classism is differential treatment based on social class, people are judged by their social class. In classism, the upper classes are benefited at the expense of the lower classes. Racism is the prejudice and discrimination based on race. Sexism is the discrimination and prejudice based on sex. Adults are the prejudice and discrimination towards young people. Heterosexism is the belief that heterosexuals are superior in contrast to homosexuals; it is linked strongly with discrimination against LGBTQ. Ageism is the discrimination and prejudice towards seniors. Discrimination based on disability is the discrimination towards people with disabilities in favor of those who don’t.
I believe that any sort of structural violence are all pernicious because people suffer from them everyday just for being who they are. But if I have to choose one I would choose sexism. Most victims of sexism are women, which is half of our population.
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The question of which part of the world will control most of the power and money in the future has been a popular topic of discussion for a while, since China starts to become industrialized. Some people believe that power and money are shifting from the west to the east, and China will become the richest and most powerful state in the world. Other believe that both power and money will remain in the west, and the United States of America will remain on top of the uni-polar system . However, this blog post will compare and contrast Sean Starrs's and Tom Engelhardt's arguments on why the United States of America will remain on top of the uni-polar system, and explain why the international system of the 21st century will be uni-polar.
Sean Starrs pointed out that even though China's GDP might become higher than the U.S.A's GDP, most of the top Chinese companies' income comes comes from producing products for U.S companies. Which means that most of the profit from selling those products will go to U.S companies. He argues that it is the wrong way to determine national power by simply looking at it's national account. Averagely over 85 percent of the top 100 U.S. transnational companies' shares are owned by Americans. He believes that the U.S has become globalized instead of declining. Tom Engelhardt believes that even though US's power is declining, they don't face other powers that are strong enough to threaten it's position. He points out that even though money continues to flow to the U.S, they only go the the richest people. Poor people will get even poorer, rich people will become richer, middle class will virtually be non-existence. This will cause a lot of social problems in it's domestic level. Even though Sean Starrs and Tom Engelhardt both agree that we wouldn't be seeing the United States losing it's hegemony position too soon, they have different views on how the U.S's power will be like in the future. Sean Starrs believes that it's power hasn't declined, it went globalized. Tom Engelhardt believes that it's power truly declined, but it will maintain in it's hegemony position since there is no other powers strong enough to threaten it's position. I believe that the international system of the 21st century will be uni-polar, and the next century will still be dominated by the United States. I believe that the degree of globalization of a country largely determines it's success. Globalization enables companies to find the cheapest way to produce their products, and sell it to the entire world, thus creating more profit. The United States has clearly success in globalization, and it will maintain in it's hegemony position in the uni-polar system. |