| This dissertation explores the problem of ongoing violence in South Africa. The first section examines discourses of violence, showing how violence is understood and spoken about in both popular and professional discussions. Here attention is given to the consequences of different ways of conceptualising violence, showing how they lead to certain kinds of violence being foregrounded and others hidden, and how this in turn justifies certain interventions rather than others. The second section explores the way violence is maintained through the reproduction of violent subjects, with attention to the social and psychological processes that produce individuals with the capacity for and inclination towards acts of violence. Special attention is given to psychodynamic and social learning approaches, and to the links between masculine identity and violence. The third and final section is a case study of a violence reduction project, which examines the shortcomings of an attempt to apply current theories of gender-based violence to a specific social environment. It draws attention to the need to adequately analyse the complex social and political context of any intervention rather than to simply apply prevailing social theory to the problem at hand. The conclusion contrasts fundamentally different ways of reacting to violence, showing how the discourses and identities outlined in the work can lead to responses that perpetuate systems of violence even while trying to dismantle them, and suggests alternatives that provide more effective ways of moving beyond the current cycles of violence in South Africa. |
