The Concept of «Violence» in Sociological Discourse: Critical Tradition

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of sociological reflection of the phenomenon of violence in terms of its conceptual and ideological diversity. The classification of approaches to the study of violence in sociology, based on the relation of violence and sociality, is proposed: apologetic and critical traditions are identified in the sociological discourse of violence. The process of problematization of symbolic violence in the critical tradition of theorizing is studied. The concepts of K. Marx and F. Engels, A. Gramsci, N. Elias and M. Foucault are considered in detail from the point of view of their contribution to the sociology of violence in general. The author reveals how in the formation of the critical tradition the idea of the complexity and multidimensionality of the nature of violence develops, which excludes the possibility of reduction of the violence only to the physical one; therefore, therefore it is necessary to distinguish the other forms and types of violence – symbolic, psychological, structural, etc; the article focuses on the problem of the foundation of the concept of symbolic violence. The author comes to the conclusion that the concept of «symbolic violence» combines a variety of critical epistemological constructs, such as «domination», «alienation», «exploitation», «hegemony», «struggle», «establishments and outsiders» and others. The critical potential of the concept of «symbolic violence» lies, firstly, in the possibility of deconstruction of the obvious and everyday structures in order to find an embodiment of power relations, and secondly, in the allocation of interests of a certain group of people in the usual and routine relations of subordination and domination, concentrated in structures of everyday life.