Education and the reduction of violence

[Anonymous]

I have just read article by Robert Fisk in the Independent on the current situation in the Middle East.  The article describes the killing of Christians by Muslims in the region; among the events described is the Armenian genocide.  I was intrigued by the last paragraph:

“Yet today, Lebanese Muslims and Christians, though still politically deeply divided, are protecting each other amid the gale-force winds around them. Why? Because they are today a much more educated population. It’s because they value education, reading and books and knowledge. And from education comes justice. Which is why, when compared to Lebanon, the Islamic State is a nation of lost souls.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-christian-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-did-not-begin-with-isis-10157239.html

This view very much chimes with a reason Steven Pinker gives for the general decline of violence in his book “The Better Angels of Our Nature”.

He concludes his book by putting forward suggestions as to why the world as a whole seems to have got less violent.  You will know, I am sure, that one of his suggeted reasons is the institution of the state.  However, this is not the contention I would like to dwell on here; instead I would like you to focus on some of his other explanations, which are:

·         The feminization of society

·         The expanding circle

·         The escalator of reason

(The latter two being related.)

Under the heading “The Expanding Circle” he writes:

“Beginning in the 17^th century, technological advances in publishing and transportation created a Republic of Letters and a Reading Revolution in which the seeds of the Humanitarian Revolution took root (chapter 4). More people read books, including fiction that led them to inhabit the mind of other people, and satire that led them to question their society’s norms.  Vivid depiction of the suffering wrought by slavery, sadistic punishments, war and cruelty to children and animals preceded the reforms that outlawed or reduced those practices.  Though chronology does not prove causation, the laboratory studies showing that hearing or reading a first-person narrative can enhance people’s sympathy for the narrator at least make it plausible (chapter 9).” (p 833 – 834)

So you can see that this falls in line with Fisk’s observations about Lebanon.

What are your views?

Meel

[robbo203]

There could well be something in what you say about the link between education and violence as a generalisation One of the arguments I have sometimes encountered amongst socialists is that  advanced capitalism needs an educated workforce and this in turn will tend to push a country  towards a more bourgeois democratic form of governance.  That, in turn, exerts a restraining influence on the extent of institutionalised warfare: you don't find many western style multiparty "democracies" going to war against each other.  Institutionalised state violence tends to directed and channelled outwards towards parts of the world where "democracy" is fragile or non existent – as in the case of proxy wards  So by extrapolation goes the argument the more bourgeois democracy takes root across the globe the less likely will wars be. Certainly there are weaknesses in this argument that one can point to but it cannot be entirely dismissed.  For instance, I have often argued that one of the consequences of a growing worldwide socialist movement is that it will be much more difficult for capitalist states to wage war. The moral legitimacy of waging wars which capitalist states need to obtain will be progressively undermined by such a movement. You also quote Pinker as saying:More people read books, including fiction that led them to inhabit the mind of other people, and satire that led them to question their society’s norms.  Vivid depiction of the suffering wrought by slavery, sadistic punishments, war and cruelty to children and animals preceded the reforms that outlawed or reduced those practices. It is certainly true that the movement against cruelty to animals had its origins in an urban based and relatively educated  "middle class" (see, for example, Keith Thomas' wonderful book "Man and Nature: 1500 to 1900" in which he talks about this and the whole romantic backlash against the depredations of  industrial capitalism).  One of the arguments used by these early animal rights activists is that cruelty towards would set a bad example to human beings. Of course, in looking at the influence of education as a factor in levels of violence we should be wary of treating it as an independent variable.  Some would argue  that the drift towards de skilling and the polarisation of the workforce into a small technocratic elite, on the one hand, and a large and increasing part time poorly paid workforce of burgher flippers and the like is has having a depressing effect on educational levels in general. True, there is the Internet, mobile phones, Ipads and whatnot but it could also be argued that the net effect has been to foster a more disempowered atomised view of the world in which we have more and more "facts" at our finger tips but our ability or inclination to integrate these facts into a coherent worldview has been diminishing. So yeah, its a big subject you have touched on Meel with so many different  ramifications to explore!

[Anonymous]

I cannot disagree with what you are saying; try as I may to get a good debate going!I was thinking – weighing up in my mind how much better off we are today than in, say, medieval society – well, given the choice, I know when and where I would want to live!So, taking a broad sweep of history, violence seems to have declined (at least in western "democracies), maybe for some of the reasons mentioned in my initial quote – which included the spread of education and literacy.  Walking down city streets today, I am way less likely to be robbed, raped or killed than in the Middle Ages – or knocked on the head to be dragged away to fight in someone's army, which I gather also happened.Education’s main role, however,  is to prepare us to be commodities for the market, and therefore is much less than it could be.  It is more than likely contributing to our sense of hopelessness and the increase in metal health issues – so has physical violence decreased, and violence to the mind increased?I came across a very interesting article discussing why our mental health is deteriorating; in fact positing that mental illness is rebellion against society.Perhaps not strictly relevant to this particular thread (although it does touch on the education system), but anyway, this is the link – well worth a read if you are interested in mental health (and it is not 400 pages long, robbo, like one of the documents in a link you recommended, I am going to ask you for a summary of that one soon        …..):http://www.madinamerica.com/2013/07/why-the-dramatic-rise-of-mental-illness-diseasing-normal-behaviors-drug-adverse-effects-and-a-peculiar-rebellion/Meel

[Richard]

Maybe what's happening in Lebanon is partly due to their tradition of tolerance for different religious beliefs (think of Kahlil Gibran). Compared to the rest of the Middle East Lebanon has often been seen as an oasis of toleration.Also, an educated person is far more likely to think for himself and to resist simplistic religious propaganda.

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