Dark side of family

• Define domestic violence


  a pattern of abusive behaviour in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner
• Privatisation of the family

  Parsons = the modern isolated nuclear family has fewer ties to the extended family so there are fewer people to rely on for support when marital problems arise
• How does the privatisation of the family lead to conflict

  fewer people to rely on for support when marital problems arise= ineffective management
• Why is accurate evidence of domestic violence difficult to obtain

  Fear & shame means incidents are often covered up

  - 2/3 victims do not search for help out of fear that it'll get worse

  
  

  - Dobash & Dobash: Male dominated police force explains the reluctance of police and courts to effectively deal with cases of domestic violence
• Who is mostly on the receiving end of domestic abuse

  Women

  Children

  
  

  - More than 2 women every week are killed by their partner (ONS)

  - 89% are committed by men against women

  - 150ppl are killed by current or former partner every year & 80% of them are women
• The Women's Aid Federation 5 types of domestic abuse

  1. Physical

  2. Psychological

  3. Neglect

  4. Sexual

  5. Financial
• 2007

  29% of women & 18% of men aged 16-59 reported they had experienced one or more types of abuse at the hands of a current or former partner since the age of 16
• Economic impacts of domestic violence

  - Total cost to services: £3.1 billion/yr

  - Loss to economy: £2.7 billion/yr

  - Total cost of domestic violence for the state, employers & victims: £23 billion/yr
• Radical Feminist view on Domestic Violence & the family

  Dobash & Dobash

  - interviewed women in women's refuges in Scotland

  - Found that violent incidents could be set off by what the husband saw as a threat to his authority

  
  

  - Marriage legitimates violence against women

  - Family is the main source of female oppression
• Criticisms of the radical feminist view

  - fails to explain violence committed by women

  - Mirlees-Black found 1 in 7 men are assaulted
• Marxist feminist view of domestic violence & the family


  Richard Wilkinson

  "Domestic violence is a result of stress on family members caused by social inequalities"

  
  

  - Worried about money may spill over into domestic abuse when tempers are high
• Criticisms of Marxist Feminists

  - Domestic violence still happens in middle/upper class families

  
  

  (link to Dobash & Dobash (threat to males authority)