This article by Johan Galtung (1990) introduces the concept of cultural violence as a complement to his earlier theory of structural violence (1969). Cultural violence refers to those aspects of a society’s symbolic sphere — including religion, ideology, language, art, empirical science, and formal science — that can be used to legitimize direct or structural violence. While cultural violence does not physically harm, it normalizes and renders acceptable the conditions or acts of harm, shifting perceptions of violence from “wrong” to “right” or “inevitable.” Galtung employs a violence triangle framework that interrelates direct violence (physical acts), structural violence (systemic inequality), and cultural violence (normative justification), alongside a violence strata model highlighting their different temporalities and causal flows. The paper provides examples from multiple cultural domains and explores how cultural narratives, ideologies, and cosmologies sustain violence across generations. Finally, Galtung connects these insights to Gandhian principles of unity of life and unity of means and ends, proposing a transition from a vicious triangle of violence to a virtuous triangle of peace rooted in cultural transformation.
