Abstract
Countless of boys and girls continue to be exposed to all kinds of violence: physical, psychological and sexual violence as well as negligence. Culture has much too often been used as an explanatory agent. The moot point is that cultural norms are not an autonomous process; it is rather the macro-economic system that actually influences cultural patterns, which in turn lead to normative behaviour. The root cause of violence is the toxic environment of poverty and inequality. Adults and children of the poorest bottom of society, left to fence for themselves, may find the recourse to violence as a rational reactive option. Substantial research has been done in the Western world, particularly in the USA, but on developing countries, particularly in Africa, where the problem is at least as acute, the research that has been done has focussed on sexual violence and Aids-related issues. It neglects the more pervasive abuse and neglect of children. In the wake of the UN Reports on violence against children and partially prodded by the international interest, some surveys have recently been conducted. This gap needs to be filled with a more detailed account.
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Lieten, G.K. (2015). Introduction. In: Victims of Obtrusive Violence. SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22807-5_1
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