Violence is more of a conceptual idea than something we can pin down with simple explanations or definitions. The word and idea of violence is an increasingly subjective word, dependant on the interpretation done by each person; meaning that violence has a different meaning for every individual. As with any subjective concept it is subject to change not only from different perceptions but also can be changed over time. For the purpose of this paper I will first discuss some of the challenges in conceptualizing violence in today’s world. I will then outline my own understanding at defining violence.

One key issue people encounter while attempting to explain violence is that they try to place it in with the legal system and its definition of violence. This causes many challenges because now you have to deal with the fact that the law is in itself a very subjective idea. This means that now, not only are you trying to define one constantly changing thing, but rather two. Laws have often being thought of as being a living thing in the way that it grows, learns and is constantly changing in response to the circumstances around it. For example here in Canada assault is a crime and considered violent, although there are other countries however that do not have these laws. Therefore in these other countries assault would not be a crime but people would still agree that it is considered a violent act. If you get hung up on something to be considered violent it is in violation of a law then you end up excluding some situations that if you took a closer look at would likely be found to be violent. While it is fair to say that some violent acts are also illegal there is many issues that arise when trying to generalize that as a concept.

Another issue people encounter when defining violence is that there are an exponential amount of different degrees of violence. Some acts would fall in the higher degrees such as shooting or stabbing someone are universally agreed upon as violent. However the acts that would fall into the lower degrees many do not immediately think of as violent such as: if someone is angry and stomps their feet this could be seen as violent and an act of aggression, although not everyone will think of it in this way. Another example is say yelling at someone or spoken threats against someone, because these are just worlds without action people may ignore them and not think anything of them. Whereas another person might consider these to be just as violent as physically assaulting someone. This is where the individual perception plays a role in trying to conceptualize what violence is, and also where the debate comes in regarding where to draw the line stating what is and is not violent. For each person this line is likely to be in a different place.

One thing that tends to happen as a result of trying to define or explain violence is people fall into trying to classify it as good versus bad. Trying argue that bad things are classed as violent and good things are not. The issue here is that, for example punching someone in the face classed as violent. Where as punching someone in the face to stop them from stabbing you, people would classify the person doing the stabbing as violent not the one doing the punching. While there are times where violent acts are more acceptable especially when using self defence or in times of war soldiers commit violent acts. This does not make the acts themselves less violent it just changes the public’s perception of it.

For me violence has a very wide scope. I would consider any act that causes harm to anyone or anything violent. This definition would include the obvious forms such as physical or sexual violence. I would include the lower degrees of violence such as yelling or belittling someone, cause this can cause a level of emotional harm to the person. There are times where you can commit unintentional violence against someone, this can occur both in the form of physical or psychological violence. While it does lack the intent that many people like to have to define an act as violent if you look purely at the act then these can be classed as violent as well. With the lower degrees of violence I mentioned stomping your feet while this does not cause harm to another person it could cause damage or “harm” to an object, which again if you look purely at the act then it can to appear to be violent. So while it is incredibly hard to define violence it is better to think of it as an always changing and fluid concept