This essay is about child abuse, in relation to the different concepts of violence found in the book "Violence and its Alternatives", by Manfred B. Steger

Hannah Arendt's concept of authority, as well as Robert Paul Wolff's concept of violence, can incorporate child abuse and why it may occur. Child abuse also called child maltreatment, is intentional acts that result in physical or emotional harm to children. It covers a wide range of behaviour from actual physical assault by parents or other adult caretakers to attacking a child's emotional development and self-worth. Neglect is another area of child abuse, one in which will be further examined.

There are several different types of child abuse, and some children experience more than one form. Physical abuse includes deliberate acts of violence that injure or even kill a child. Some signs of this form of abuse are bruises, broken bones, or burn marks on a child. Sexual abuse occurs when adults use children for sexual gratification or expose them to sexual activities. Sexual abuse may begin with kissing or fondling and progress to more intrusive sexual acts, such as oral sex and vaginal or anal penetration. Emotional abuse destroys a child's self-esteem. Such abuse commonly includes repeated verbal abuse of a child in the form of shouting, threats, and degrading or humiliating criticism. Other types of emotional abuse are confinement, such as shutting a child in a dark closet, and social isolation, such as denying a child friends.

The most common form of child abuse is neglect. It accounts for more deaths of children every year than physical abuse. Physical neglect involves a parent's failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care to a child. It may also include inadequate supervision and a consistent failure to protect a child from hazards or danger. Emotional neglect occurs when a parent or caretaker fails to meet a child's basic needs for affection and comfort. Examples of emotional neglect include...