In order to understand the multiple manifestations and scientific discussions of violence, we distinguish in this contribution between five essential dimensions of analysis: In addition to the discussion of different forms and particularities of direct, physical violence, we will elaborate on the concepts of structural, cultural and symbolic violence. In contrast to these conceptualizations differentiating between visible acts of violence and violent macrostructures, further approaches try to overcome this distinction between micro- and macrolevels in order to understand the phenomenon of violence. In this regard, we distinguish between instrumental approaches, which explain violence on the basis of rational logics, and situational approaches, focusing on the emotional evaluation of social situations leading to dynamics of violence. The fifth dimension of analysis encompasses approaches, which try to understand the emergence of violence out of escalating processes of communication, inherent to specific logics of different social systems, or out of the sequence of specific events. Beyond these different conceptualizations and dimensions of analysis, we will discuss the social phenomenon of violence with regard to critical approaches: Besides the contextualization of its embeddedness in normative ideas of civilization and modernity we will therefore relate violence to processes of conflict resolution and transformation as well as the concept of non-violence.
