Structural violence is the way in which a social structure will harm people by failing to meet, limiting, or prohibiting people from meeting their basic needs. Structural violence affects people at the bottom of society. People who live in poverty or who are not considered to be of high social status. This may be due to age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or any other aspect of a person that makes them different from the majority of the population or what the people consider it the norm. However, structural violence does not necessarily need the majority of the population to be defined; it can manifest itself by a few people in the country or by making decisions for the population. Structural violence differs from direct violence. Direct violence is brutal and flashy and provokes a reaction from people who find out what happened. Structural violence is almost invisible, almost always seen as the way things have always been done or seen as less bad than they could be. Structural violence does not need to be bloody and brutal like direct violence; it can be as ordinary as inadequate inner-city schools operating in dilapidated buildings with rooms overcrowded with students. However, structural violence often causes more suffering and pain than direct violence and is more difficult to stop. Who are the victims of structural violence? These victims are often considered to belong to a lower economic class. This does not necessarily mean that they live in poverty. It is a misconception that only people in third world countries or developing countries are the only places where structural violence is found. This violence happens in almost every country, the only reason we don't see it is (a) ... middle of paper ... is a better place without these things. But the world also needs these things to survive. The way to counter structural violence is to be aware and regulate working conditions, government policies and people's basic needs and treat them decently. I'm still not a hundred percent sure how people are going to do this. Works Cited Mickey Mouse Goes to Haiti Walt Disney and the Science of Exploitation (1996). [Film].DuNann Winter, D. and Leighton, DC (2001). Structural violence. Peace, conflicts and violence: the psychology of peace in the 21st century. New York: Prentice-Hall. Einarsdottir, J. (2004). Tired of crying: maternal love, child deaths and poverty in Guinea-Bissau. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. Fort, MM and Oscar, G. (2004). Sickness and riches: the corporate assault on global health. Cambridge: Southern Press.