{{Short description|Violence within a marginalised community}} '''Lateral violence''' or '''horizontal hostility''' is a form of intra-group conflict where members of an oppressed group displace their aggression towards their own community rather than towards the oppressors of the community.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moane |first1=Geraldine |title=Gender and colonialism : a psychological analysis of oppression and liberation |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |doi=10.1057/9780230279377 |isbn=978-0-230-27937-7 |edition=Rev. |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230279377 |access-date=12 March 2022}}</ref> Work environments with strong vertical hierarchies and where horizontal hostility is common are associated with poor outcomes for patients and clients.<ref name=":0" /> Horizontal hostility benefits oppressing groups and impedes movements that promote social justice.<ref name=":0" />
Targets of horizontal hostility may be members of the group who are perceived to be more mainstream or relatable to the oppressive cultural groups.<ref name=":0" />
Horizontal hostility has been studied in relation to Indigenous communities,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jaber |first1=Lindsey |last2=Stirbys |first2=Cynthia |last3=Scott |first3=Jesse |last4=Foong |first4=Emma |date=July 2023 |title=Indigenous Women's Experiences of Lateral Violence: A Systematic Literature Review |journal=Trauma, Violence & Abuse |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=1763–1776 |doi=10.1177/15248380221077316 |issn=1552-8324 |pmc=10240644 |pmid=35337235}}</ref> institutional settings (especially nursing),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Guolei |last2=Zou |first2=Tianchang |last3=Zhang |first3=Menghua |title=Horizontal Violence or Workplace Bullying Among Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Mixed Systematic Review |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.16849 |journal=Journal of Advanced Nursing |date=2025 |article-number=jan.16849 |language=en |volume=n/a |issue=n/a |doi=10.1111/jan.16849 |pmid=40008631 |issn=1365-2648|url-access=subscription |pmc=12623697 }}</ref> and social movements such as feminism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=White |first1=Judith B. |last2=Langer |first2=Ellen J. |date=1999 |title=Horizontal Hostility; Relations Between Similar Minority Groups |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0022-4537.00132 |journal=Journal of Social Issues |language=en |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=537–559 |doi=10.1111/0022-4537.00132 |issn=1540-4560|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Social movements == Horizontal hostility within feminist movements has been studied since the 1970s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=O'Hara |first=Caroline |title=Horizontal hostility |url=https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071808023.n266 |journal=The Sage Encyclopedia of Multicultural Counseling, Social Justice, and Advocacy |date=2024 |doi=10.4135/9781071808023.n266 |isbn=978-1-0718-0803-0 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire discussed horizontal violence in his book ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (1970). Freire observed that members of oppressed groups act as "sub-oppressors" when they direct their hostility and frustration toward their peers instead of the oppressing group. Freire theorized that "sub-oppressors" act from feelings of low self-esteem, powerlessness, and fear of reprisal, lashing out at members of their own group because that feels safer and allows them to feel more powerful.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Horizontal Violence {{!}} Research Starters {{!}} EBSCO Research |url=https://www.ebsco.com/ |access-date=2025-10-23 |website=EBSCO |language=en}}</ref>
== Indigenous communities == Lateral violence within Indigenous communities is part of a cycle of abuse and its roots lie in factors such as: colonisation, oppression, intergenerational trauma and the ongoing experiences of racism and discrimination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lateral violence entry on the CRRF Glossary of Terms |url=https://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1/item/27038-lateral-violence |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229053442/http://crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1/item/27038-lateral-violence |archive-date=29 Dec 2022 |website=Canadian Race Relations Foundation}}</ref> These traumas contribute to self-oppressing or bullying behaviours within the community.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 December 2019 |title=Lateral Violence in First Nations Communities – Kwey Kway Consulting |url=http://www.kweykway.ca/lateral-violence-in-first-nations-communities |website=www.kweykway.ca}}</ref> Those experiencing and those committing lateral violence are more likely to be involved in crime in the United States, and the United Kingdom.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}
In Australia and Canada, lateral violence is widely seen as an intergenerational learned pattern and major social problem in indigenous communities.<ref name="nwac">{{cite web |title=Aboriginal Lateral Violence |url=http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/reports/AboriginalLateralViolence%20-%20web%20version.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811190226/http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/reports/AboriginalLateralViolence%20-%20web%20version.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-11 |access-date=2012-12-28 |website=Native Women’s Association of Canada}}</ref> In Australia surveys have reported that up to 95% of Aboriginal youth had witnessed lateral violence in the home, and that 95% of the bullying experienced by Aboriginals was perpetrated by other Aboriginals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/bullying-lateral-violence|title=Bullying & lateral violence|first=Jens Korff, Creative|last=Spirits|website=Creative Spirits|date=13 August 2020}}</ref>
A 2008 study by the Canadian Ministry of Health found that trauma resulting from the Canadian boarding school systems has led to substance and alcohol abuse. This, along with severing ties to indigenous culture predisposes indigenous communities towards domestic abuse and violence.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aboriginal women and family violence |url=http://www.onwa.ca/upload/documents/aboriginal-women-and-family-violence.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516173821/http://www.onwa.ca/upload/documents/aboriginal-women-and-family-violence.pdf |archive-date=16 May 2017 |website=www.onwa.ca}}</ref>
== Institutional settings == Horizontal hostility has been studied in the field of nursing since at least the early 1980s. In this field, it is defined as workers "overtly or covertly directing their dissatisfaction inward toward: (a) those less powerful than themselves, (b) themselves, and (c) each other". Lateral hostility among nurses is an issue throughout practice settings. The most cited theory attempting to explain the problem of lateral hostility in nursing suggests that nurses experience oppression or powerlessness in the workplace, that this creates a toxic work environment, and nurses express their frustration through horizontal hostility.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sheridan-Leos |first=Norma |date=2008 |title=Understanding lateral violence in nursing |url=https://www.ons.org/pubs/article/5616/preview-download |journal=Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=399–403 |doi=10.1188/08.CJON.399-403 |issn=1092-1095 |pmid=18515237 |via=|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Worker burnout and poor outcomes for patients and clients may result from work environments atmospheres where horizontal hostility is common.<ref name=":0" />
Horizontal hostility is a significant concept in discourse about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), where it is perceived as a barrier to the goals of DEI programs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Horizontal Hostility - Definition and Explanation |url=https://oxford-review.com/the-oxford-review-dei-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dictionary/horizontal-hostility-definition-and-explanation/ |access-date=2025-09-20 |website=The Oxford Review - OR Briefings |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==See also==
* Cycle of poverty * Displaced aggression * Divide and rule * Precarity * The enemy of my enemy is my friend * The Hunger Games * Tragedy of the commons
==References== {{reflist}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2017}}
Category:Social concepts Category:Violence against Indigenous people in Canada Category:Harassment and bullying Category:Violence