Manifestations of violence

“There is a crisis of democracy, a rise in polarization and distrust in many places,” said Social Sciences Professor at New York University, Eric Klinenberg, at the 50th SNF Dialogues discussion, which took place on Wednesday, 26 January 2022. In the first SNF Dialogues webcast of 2022 participants discussed whether - and how - the social isolation and anxiety induced by the pandemic have led to an increase in violent behaviors worldwide.

“Many people believe that we live in a more violent time than ever before, that society is falling apart. Actually we’ve been on a fairly steady downward trend in terms of violence for the last several decades, with the exception of the last couple of years in which we’ve been living in an acute pandemic and emergency,” said Klinenberg, referring to the troubling upticks in violence observed recently.

Alex Piquero, Chair of the Department of Sociology as well as Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami, has conducted research showing an increase in domestic violence during the pandemic. “It’s unfortunate but not a surprise in the sense of what kinds of stressors are implicated in domestic violence. You add stress, anxiety, anger, people stuck together for a period of time without any kind of outlet. One of the things that worries me as a scholar is what are the long-term effects of the pandemic, especially on women, who did not return to the workforce in the numbers they were at the beginning, as well as what’s going to happen to the kids. We know one of the strongest risk factors for later violence is exposure to violence."

Kiki Petroulaki, Psychologist and President of the "European Anti-Violence Network", discussed the increase in incidents of gender-based violence in Greece through a pre-recorded interview she gave to the SNF Dialogues. “What has changed, compared to the past, is visibility. The media has finally started giving it emphasis, covering almost every incident. Last year, we had nine femicides and nine attempted femicides. The perpetrators feel that they can go on with their lives unpunished, which is actually the case, as long as these “misdemeanors” - according to the law - keep occurring, the law and the police will continue treating them like simple arguments between a couple, as if both are to blame.

Kiki Petroulaki on domestic violence

The SNF Dialogues are curated and moderated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou and are held through the journalism non-profit organization iMEdD (incubator for Media Education and Development).