The Politics and Economics of Violence
The correlation between whether there is greater violence and suicides when different political parties are in power is showing that when the conservatives are in power there is more and lower during the years in which parties that could be described as liberal, labour, left-wing or social-democratic have been in power.
These patterns in the politics and economics of violence may not be limited to the United States. Epidemiologists have shown that in both the UK and Australia rates of suicide since 1900 have been higher during the years in which conservative parties have been in power, and lower during the years in which parties that could be described as liberal, labor, left-wing or social-democratic have been in power.
But correlations alone do not prove causation, so they raise a further question: can we identify causal mechanisms that would explain why violent death rates differ depending upon whether a conservative or liberal party is in power? Fortunately, we can. Three sources of socio-economic stress and distress have been identified, each of which has been shown to predict rates of suicide and/or homicide independently of party; and each of which has also been shown to increase during Republican administrations, and to decrease during Democratic ones. They are: 1) the rate and duration of unemployment; 2) the degree of socio-economic inequality in income and (especially) in wealth, between the richest and poorest members of the population; and 3) the frequency, depth and duration of recessions and depressions. For example, both the rate and the duration of unemployment have increased during every single Republican administration, and decreased under every single Democratic one, without exception. In the UK and Australia also, differences in unemployment rates appeared to be among the causal mechanisms responsible for the correlations between party and violent death rates.
But why would these economic stressors increase rates of suicide and homicide? Because each of them (becoming "redundant" by being fired from a job, being poor when others are rich, becoming bankrupt and homeless) exposes millions of people to a degree of shame and humiliation (feelings of personal failure, inadequacy and worthlessness) that for thousands of them are overwhelmingly painful. And feelings of shame and humiliation have long been identified as the necessary (but not sufficient) causes of lethal violence by investigators from every branch of the behavioral sciences - just as the tubercle bacillus is the necessary (but not sufficient) cause of tuberculosis.
Source; Huffington Post
These patterns in the politics and economics of violence may not be limited to the United States. Epidemiologists have shown that in both the UK and Australia rates of suicide since 1900 have been higher during the years in which conservative parties have been in power, and lower during the years in which parties that could be described as liberal, labor, left-wing or social-democratic have been in power.
But correlations alone do not prove causation, so they raise a further question: can we identify causal mechanisms that would explain why violent death rates differ depending upon whether a conservative or liberal party is in power? Fortunately, we can. Three sources of socio-economic stress and distress have been identified, each of which has been shown to predict rates of suicide and/or homicide independently of party; and each of which has also been shown to increase during Republican administrations, and to decrease during Democratic ones. They are: 1) the rate and duration of unemployment; 2) the degree of socio-economic inequality in income and (especially) in wealth, between the richest and poorest members of the population; and 3) the frequency, depth and duration of recessions and depressions. For example, both the rate and the duration of unemployment have increased during every single Republican administration, and decreased under every single Democratic one, without exception. In the UK and Australia also, differences in unemployment rates appeared to be among the causal mechanisms responsible for the correlations between party and violent death rates.
But why would these economic stressors increase rates of suicide and homicide? Because each of them (becoming "redundant" by being fired from a job, being poor when others are rich, becoming bankrupt and homeless) exposes millions of people to a degree of shame and humiliation (feelings of personal failure, inadequacy and worthlessness) that for thousands of them are overwhelmingly painful. And feelings of shame and humiliation have long been identified as the necessary (but not sufficient) causes of lethal violence by investigators from every branch of the behavioral sciences - just as the tubercle bacillus is the necessary (but not sufficient) cause of tuberculosis.
Source; Huffington Post
