Domestic violence

• Types of domestic violence:

  • Sexual - undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another.
  • Psychological/emotional - confinement, isolation, verbal assault... other treatment which may diminish sense of identity, dignity and self-worth.
  • Physical - intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person.
• Sociologists supporting equality in couples:

  • Oakley
  • Bott
  • Boulton
  • Young + Willmott
  • Dunne
  • Dex + Ward
• Sociologists supporting separate roles in couples:

  • Parsons' (expressive/instrumental roles)
  • Bott
  • Braun et al
  • Hoshchild
  • Southerton
• Statistics (Doesn't occur randomly, follows social patterns):

  • 99% of incidents against women are committed by men.
  • 1 in 4 women assaulted by partner, 1 in 8 repeatedly so.
  • 2 mil reported victims in previous yrs by British Crime Survey.
• Evaluation of statistics:

  • not valid of whole population as not all victims report it.
  • can't generalise for whole population, haven't studied every couple.
• Reasons why domestic violence may be under reported to police:

  • Yearnshire (1997): found on average women suffers 35 assaults before making report.
  • Dar argues less likely to be reported than any other violent act, and police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record.
  • Cheal (1991): police or other state agencies not prepared to get involved with family.
• Radical feminist explanation for domestic violence (A02):

  • Milett + Firestone (1970): argue society founded on patriarchy, key division in men/women.
  • men are enemy - exploit women.
  • widespread domestic violence inevitable feature of patriarchal society.
• Radical explanation (Contemporary example):

  • supported by Rihanna + Chris Brown, wanting to seize power over her and control status.
• Radical explanation (A03):

  • Elliot (1996): argues not all men are aggressive + most oppose domestic violence.
  • fail to explain female violence (child abuse).
• Materialist explanation on domestic violence (A01):

  • focuses on economic and material factors, such as inequalities in income.
• Materialist explanation (A02):

  • Wilkinson + Pickett (2010): as a result of stress on family members caused by social inequality.
  • findings show not all people equally in danger of suffering domestic violence.
• Materialist explanation (A03):

  • Ansley 'wives are takers of shit' - agree with this explanation, capitalism = domestic violence.
  • not generalisable, ignores working class.