Why are we in the United States so concerned with street violence and murder and so unconcerned about untimely deaths resulting from the routine workings of our society? Yet far more people die because of occupational illness than are violently murdered and as many again die because they cannot afford adequate health care. We are outraged and indignant when one child is murdered, but remain silent as 12,000 infants die as a result of poverty. In this fully revised, updated edition of her widely adopted textbook, sociologist Barbara Chasin examines both the interpersonal violence with which the news media keeps us familiar, and the less visible, but more costly, structural violence, which the media practically ignores. Dr. Chasin makes the important points that interpersonal violence is inflicted on its victims by identifiable others, is focused on by the media, and that remedies are available. By contrast, structural violence primarily affects the poor, the working class, blacks and other minority groups, and is a direct result of decisions made by society's elite. Consequently, it is practically ignored by the media and is rarely prosecuted with sincerity or vigor. But she convincingly demonstrates that both result from economic inequality.

Throughout this thoroughly researched work, the author stresses the connections between violence and economic, ethnic, and gender inequalities, and she also links violence to profit seeking and militarism. Written for the college student, the book is thoroughly documented and includes recent statistics and tables, plus new material on the relation of U.S. foreign policy to terrorism, and the effects of media violence on a civil society. Whileremaining academically rigorous, Chasin makes compelling use of individual experiences to illustrate theoretical points.