Henry Biedron

Presentation Title

Violent systems and peaceful protests: Highlighting the violence of inequality spurs outrage but not support for social change

Abstract

Structural violence refers to preventable harm, suffering, and premature death that results from unjust institutions, structures, and systems. Sociologists introduced this construct to reframe social injustices as a form of violence. We investigated whether framing racial disparities as structural violence can foster moral outrage, overcome apathy and indifference, and motivate support for social change. We propose that the structural violence framework operates psychologically by identifying (1) the targets subjected to injustice, (2) the intentional agents responsible for the injustice, and (3) the harmful consequences of that injustice. In an experiment, non-Hispanic White Americans (n = 1,500) read short vignettes about racial disparities in health or economic outcomes that we framed either as mere group differences or as structural violence. Framing disparities as structural violence increased moral outrage but did not affect support for policies or protests aimed at challenging social injustice. Motivating concern for inequality is crucial for addressing it, and structural violence framing may be a tool for motivating the emotional responses to racial disparities which serve as key predictors for social change.