The Effects of Structural Violence on the Well-being of Marginalized Communities in the United States

Structural violence refers to injustices embedded in social and institutional structures within societies that result in harm to individuals’ wellbeing (Galtung, 1969; Farmer, 2004). Using the structural violence framework, our research proposes to investigate its impact on marginalized communities through an intersectional analysis. Traditional academic scholarship in psychology demonstrates notable absence of voices and stories of individuals from such communities due to the lack of linguistic, class and other privileges that provide opportunities for research participation. Our data will come from interviewing members from three communities, “undocumented” Latinos (as) immigrants, Muslims (immigrants and non-immigrants), and LGBTQ+ persons who have experienced incarceration. This paper introduces background scholarship and methodology of our Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved research proposal. We conclude by commenting on the implications of research findings in creating a complex intersectional narrative of experiences of structural violence on minority groups to add to activist-scholarship on social justice issues to promote solidarity across struggles. We hypothesize that in addition to countering reductive stereotypes the results will contribute to expanding clinical and theoretical frameworks in psychology