Glossary

Economic violence:

Economic violence is a term used to describe violence cause through the economic system. Originally it was used to qualify the difference of status between owner and producer in Marxist theory, but it has been extended to qualify the effects specific economic policies (corporate or public) can have on individuals or groups, such as increasing inequalities, inefficient provision of basic goods and services or oligarchic concentration of resources.

Environmental violence:

Environmental violence is violence caused to the environment such as pollution or depletion. It is also a form of violence towards the people who live in or use an affected environment either because it represents a danger for their health, deprives them from resources or does not allow them to have a decent living.

Gated communities:

Gated communities are restricted-access residential developments whereby public spaces are privatised. The term refers to a physical area that is fenced or walled-off from its surroundings. There are many types of gated community with differing degrees of amenities, exclusivity and security.

Gentrification:

Gentrification is the rehabilitation of impoverished urban areas, usually those located in historical city centres, through the restoration of habitat buildings and provision of services for upper middle class groups. Very often, the former inhabitants of a gentrified area are forced to relocated elsewhere, in some case because they are evicted, but more often because rents and the general cost of living rise up.

Penalisation:

In social sciences, penalisation refers to the process by witch more and more socially divergent attitudes, petty crimes and small delinquency are receiving a penal treatment (response).

State violence:

State violence is violence towards individuals or groups by the state. It comprises direct physical violence done by state forces such as police or the army, but it can also qualify violence which result of policy choices.

Symbolic violence:

Symbolic violence is a form of violence done without the use of physical force but through the imposition of categories of thoughts, perception and representation over individuals or groups. It maintains these individuals or groups under domination by making them integrate specific values that justify a specific social order.

Transnational:

Transnationalism is a social movement that refers to the growing interconnectivity of people all around the world due to processes of globalisation (especially due to the developments in telecommunication and transport) and the loosening of boundaries between countries. It encourages change in and re-examination of concepts like citizenship or nationalism and migration.