What does your cup of coffee in the morning have to do with senseless violence? Everything, according to Pascal Gielen (1970), director of the research center Arts in Society at the Groningen University.

Where culture provides rituals, habits and other ways to make our lives structured, art diffuses these rituals.

It has been said that senseless violence is a matter of social and economic inequality, but that doesn’t explain why this kind of violence is also very present in rich and developed countries. We cannot just assume that wealth and prosperity lead to happy lives.

Read the full blog on TEDx Groningen >>

Photo: Arjan Kremer.