This study investigates the root causes of violence in Schooling, an area of study which lacks in-depth conceptual foundations upon which effective interventions and non-violent practice can be built. The thesis begins by discussing what is currently lacking in theory, illustrating this with an analysis of ‘Educommunication’; an example of current practice considered to take a ‘radical’ and innovative approach to reducing violence in schooling. After highlighting the inadequacies of such approaches, the thesis formulates a multidimensional theoretical model for understanding the root causes of violence drawing on sociology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, learning theory and critical theory. Two new key concepts are introduced: ‘violent epistemology’ and ‘non-conducive social circumstances’. These concepts are put to the test through a detailed ethnographic and socio-historical analysis of a case-study school in Brazil and its surrounding context, demonstrating how violent epistemology and non-conducive circumstances combine to foster multiple manifestations of violence (broadly defined) in schooling. Finally, a preliminary formulation of the concepts of ‘non-violent epistemology’ and ‘more conducive circumstances’ are presented, along with suggestions about how these concepts might be translated into practice. This study combines detailed theoretical formulations with analysis of sociohistorical accounts, and of primary data collected during an immersive period of qualitative field research. Primary data was collected using Participant Observation and analysed using methods inspired by critical dialectics, phenomenology and grounded theory. The key contributions of this thesis include the presentation of a systematic and comprehensive framework for understanding the root causes of violence in schooling; the demonstration of how violent epistemology and its effects can be identified as running through all levels of society as well as throughout history; and the identification of theoretical and practical starting points for addressing violence at its root causes.