(Perceived Symbolic Violence and Its Relationship to University Students’ Attitudes Toward the Culture of Social Peace)

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the level of both perceived symbolic violence and the culture of social peace among university students. It also seeks to examine statistically significant differences in perceived symbolic violence and the culture of social peace according to the variables of gender (male–female) and academic specialization (scientific–humanities), in addition to identifying the nature of the correlational relationship between perceived symbolic violence and the culture of social peace.

    The researcher adopted the descriptive method due to its suitability to the nature of the study. Two scales were developed: one for perceived symbolic violence and another for the culture of social peace among students at the University of Baghdad. These were constructed after reviewing a range of theories, literature, and previous studies. The two scales were administered to a sample of 200 male and female students from both scientific and humanities disciplines at the University of Baghdad for the academic year (2025–2026).

     The researcher employed statistical methods and the SPSS package in the analysis. The results showed that the level of perceived symbolic violence among university students was low, as the calculated mean was lower than the hypothetical mean. In addition, the sample demonstrated a higher level of social peace culture than the hypothetical mean, indicating positive attitudes among students toward the culture of social peace. The findings also revealed a negative correlation between the two variables, meaning that as the level of social peace culture among students increases, the level of perceived symbolic violence decreases.