And I think there is a necessary distinction between organized, (organization-sponsored) violence and situational, person-to-person violence.

I think the former may indeed have an economic or political base as I've described while the latter may SEEM to be personal, but is actually and perhaps unawarely modeled after the former.

The former would be connected with at least some education/economic power and the latter would be likelier among the less educated, less economically powerful following the former's "example" and propaganda.


I know a former "company town" (mining) in our area where the ethnic
divisions among the several equally-impoverished ethnic groups still residing in the area remain strong, despite the closure of the company/industry generations ago. And another in our area that had only one primary ethnic group and that, post-industry, STILL tends to discourage other nationalities-of-origin from taking root. To an outsider, they may ALL look like "white trash," or "rednecks," but to a local person they are very obviously proud members of different cultural backgrounds who do not play well with people of other heritages without some significant relationship-building happening first. These divisions generally happen below the level of aware conversation; "We just don't KNOW them" is the usual description whether they WANT to know them or don't care to try to know them.

The lower one seems to be on the class scale, the more it seems people are affected by a non-verbal pattern of the divisive "isms" that keep them down where the sh*t rolls downhill towards. And the more scared are the powers that they'll bond, anyway, which of course they do when there is a way for them to get to know one another and build sustainable relationships.

This is common knowledge in social change work-- the relationship angle and the need to intentionally foster them-- the fact that relationship precedes anything else of sustainable value.

Here's a set of contrasting dynamics from church research that actually apply equally well to the difference between how small groups and large movements/organizations function: Church Dynamics Chart.

~Susan