Structural abuse
 | This article includes a cultural system or authority. This unfairness manifests itself as abuse in a psychological, financial, physical or spiritual form, and victims often are unable to protect themselves from harm. An individual's inability to protect themselves may lead to their entrapment in the system, preventing them from seeking justice or recompense for crimes endured and damages incurred, creating a feeling of isolation or helplessness.
Systems containing abusive structures are primarily designed to control individuals or manipulate them for material gain. Most social systems contain at least one structure that induces structural abuse. These structures, when allowed to exist, create a cycle of abuse, wherein the abuse is repetitive or contagious in nature, and may become acceptable in other parts of the system. Structural abuse differs to Pagan social structures.[1] Structural abuse can be found on a very small scale, such as in instances of bullying involving more than one perpetrator, or in cases of malfeasance, a common example of which is individual police officers conducting investigations without direct evidence, or ignoring formal complaints made by victims.[2]
ProcessTypesThere are three types of structural abuse:
Affected GroupsStructural abuse is often indirect. As such it can affect vulnerable groups, such as:
NatureStructural abuses often "survive" on heuristics of fallacies and distortions of logic. See also
References
Further reading
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