The Experience and Fear of Violence in the Public Realm: Hegemonic Ideology and Individual Behaviour

This book explores violent and discriminatory values and beliefs and their interconnectedness between societal echelons. Violence has a foundation and a context. It comes from somewhere and is directed at someone or something, and it has an ambience established through generations and political, financial and religious strategies. It fashions nation-states’ hegemonic ideology and frames individual behaviours and attitudes. Thus, creating a milieu that enables the normalisation of violence. The focus is on violence-infused behaviours and actions in the public realm, a multifunctional environment for social and cultural activities, as well as a workplace, entertainment, and transport hub. It is a public setting, sometimes demanding onerous deftness of individuals to stay safe. Attitudes, values and beliefs around violence, harassment, and discrimination in the public realm frequently occur openly without anyone noticing that a crime has been committed, including by close bystanders. An audience steeped in societal hegemonic social and cultural patriarchal ideology might be oblivious to harassing or discriminative behaviours and attitudes against females, minority genders, and ethnic minority groups. The habitual nature and normalisation of these invisible crimes make them easy to dismiss. Violence materialises on all societal levels: the hegemonic
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