Social murder facts for kids

Social murder is a term for when people die too early or in an unnatural way because of big problems in society, like unfair rules, politics, or money issues. It's not like a regular crime committed by one person against another. Instead, it's about how powerful groups or systems can harm the poorest people.

The idea was first used by a thinker named Friedrich Engels in 1845. He wrote about it in his book The Condition of the Working-Class in England. Engels believed that the rich and powerful people in society were putting working-class people in situations where they would get sick or die young. He saw this happening in cities like Manchester, England, during the Victorian era.

What is Social Murder?

Social murder happens when a person's death is caused by the way society is set up, rather than by an individual act of violence. It means that certain social, political, or economic conditions lead to people dying sooner than they should, or in ways that are not natural.

How Did the Idea Start?

The term "social murder" was created by Friedrich Engels in 1845. He was writing about the lives of working-class people in England. Engels saw that many poor people were living in terrible conditions. They had bad housing, unhealthy workplaces, and not enough food. These conditions often led to sickness and early death.

Engels argued that the powerful people in society, who controlled politics and money, were responsible for these deaths. He said they were putting the working class in situations where they would "inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death." He believed this was a form of murder, even though no single person was directly killing them.

Social Murder Today

Even though the term was first used a long time ago, people still use "social murder" today. It helps describe situations where government policies or economic systems seem to harm people, especially those who are already struggling.

Examples in Modern Times

• Some politicians, like John McDonnell in the UK, have used the term to talk about how certain government money rules might affect people's lives and health.
• After a big fire in London called the Grenfell Tower fire, some people used the term to suggest that problems with building safety rules and housing conditions played a role in the tragedy.
• In Canada, a professor named Dennis Raphael used the term to describe how some government decisions about public services might negatively affect people's health.
• Economists Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson wrote a book in 2007 called Social Murder: And Other Shortcomings of Conservative Economics. They used the term to discuss how certain economic ideas could lead to harm.
• In 2021, an editor from the BMJ used the term to talk about how some government actions during the COVID-19 pandemic might have led to more deaths.

These examples show that the idea of social murder is still used to discuss how big societal issues can have serious, even deadly, effects on people's lives.

See also

• Diseases of despair