Moral violence may not be as visible as physical violence, but it is just as destructive because it targets the identity of the victim.
The perpetrators of moral violence cause unhappiness among everyone in their immediate circle. Their violence is often hidden under the guise of finer feelings: they may be unknowing manipulators, virtuous wrongdoers, or narcissists. Power, but also indifference, envy and even morality can serve as the channels of this hidden violence.
Drawing on such writers as Balzac, Maupassant, Mauriac and Stefan Zweig, Nicole Jeammet describes and explores some seemingly banal situations that convey violence and destruction.

Nicole Jeammet, a psychoanalyst, is a lecturer in psychopathology at the University of Paris-V-René Descartes.