It clarifies the concept of societal violence and traces its roots to coercively established and maintained exploitative modes of work, exchange, and distribution. It suggests that overcoming violence in human relations requires transformations of work, exchange, and distribution in accordance with egalitarian, democratic, humanistic, and ecological values in order to eliminate obstacles to human development. Social policies and political strategies toward these ends are discussed in the concluding sections of the essay. 12 references. (Author abstract)