ABSTRACT
Having reviewed violence in schools from the point of view of public discourse and the media, this chapter now switches focus to the idea that schooling itself might constitute a kind of violence. Various authors have identified the role that schools play in the reproduction of societal inequalities as one of the most invidious forms of structural violence. These authors discuss issues of access and quality, and the ways that schools can serve to limit resources and opportunities for certain groups and thus reproduce inequalities in broader society. Schools are seen as mechanisms for widening opportunity and providing social mobility. This has the result that many have become inured to the iniquity of the education system. Cultural violence can be present through acts of omission as well as through acts of commission. The chapter reviews both structural and cultural violence in systems of education.
