Couples - Domestic Abuse Flashcards
Home Office definition of domestic violence and abuse in 2013
“Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those age 16 and over who are or have been intimate partners”
When did the domestic abuse definition change from the Home Office 2013 definition?
In 2021 due to the Domestic Abuse Act
According to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, when is the behaviour of person a to person b domestic abuse?
If a and b are both over 16 and personally connected with each other
If the behaviour is abusive
According to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, when is behaviour abusive?
If it includes:
-Physical or sexual abuse
-Violent or threatening behaviour
-Controlling or coercive behaviour
-Economic abuse
-Psychological, emotional or other abuse
Economic abuse
Any behaviour that has substantial adverse effects on b’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money, property, good or services
How many times must the abusive behaviour occur for it to count as domestic abuse?
It doesn’t matter if it happens on numerous occasions or if it only happens once
What do many people believe domestic abuse is the behaviour of? (Common view)
The behaviour of a few disturbed or ‘sick’ individuals due to psychological issues, rather than social
Reason for sociologists disagreeing with common view of domestic abuse: widespread
DA is far too widespread to be simply the work of a few disturbed individuals
What fraction of violent crime is DA according to Women’s Aid?
Between 1/6 and 1/4
Large scale survey of crime
Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
What percentage of adults experienced DA between March 2021 and March 2022?
5% (2.4 million)
Reason for sociologists disagreeing with common view of domestic abuse: patterns
DA does not happen randomly, it follows particular social patterns which have social causes
Who found that women are more likely than men to have experienced intimate abuse?
Coleman
What can set off violent incidents from a husband according to Dobash and Dobash?
A husband believing his authority is challenged (E.g. if his wife asks him why he is home late for dinner)
What do Dobash and Dobash believe about marriage?
They believe it legitimates abuse against women by conferring power/authority on husbands and dependence on wives
When do DA incidents increase by 38% according to research carried out by the University of Lancaster?
When England lose football matches
What gender differences did the Office of National Statistics (ONS) find last year?
Estimated 6.9% of women (1.7 million) and 3.0% of men (699,000) experienced DA last year
Who stated that women are more likely than men to be victims of multiple incidents of DA?
Walby and Allen
Extent of DA for women according to Ansara and Hinden
Women suffer more severe violence and DA will have more psychological effects on them
Possible reason why less men are victims of DA than women?
Half of male victims fail to tell anyone they are a victims (2.5% less likely to tell than women)
Problem of official statistics for DA: police/prosecutor reluctance
According to Cheal, they may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute DA cases that are reported to them due to reluctance to be involved in the family
What three assumptions about the family do police/prosecutors? (Reason for their reluctance)
It’s private so not their business
Neglect dark side of family, believing family is safe environment
Assume that victims are free to leave the home/relationship
Why aren’t women easily able to leave an abusive partner?
Because they are often financially dependent on their partner
Problem of official statistics for DA: conviction rates
Conviction rates of DA are extremely low, making it likely that official statistics are incorrect
Problem of official statistics for DA: victims reporting DA to police
Victims may not want to report DA to the police
How many assaults do women victims of DA suffer from before reporting DA to the police according to Yearnshire?
35 assaults
Why are victims unwilling to report DA to the police according to Dar?
Because they believe it’s not a police matter
Four explanations for DA
Radical feminist explanation
Materialist definition
Culture, history and social structure
Masculinity and violence
Reason for DA according to Dobash and Dobash
Challenge to male authority
What do radical feminists interpret Dobash and Dobash’s findings as? (Radical feminist explanation)
Evidence of patriarchy
What are the family and marriage according to radical feminists? (Radical feminist explanation)
The key institutions of patriarchal society
Main source of women’s oppression
What is investable in patriarchal society and why according to radical feminists? (Radical feminist explanation)
Widespread DA is inevitable to maintain the power than men have over women
Who rejects the claim of radical feminists that all men benefit from DA against women? (Evaluation of radical feminist explanation)
Faith Robertson Elliot
Why does Faith Robertson Elliot reject radical feminist claims? (Evaluation of radical feminist explanation)
They argue that not all men are aggressive and most oppose DA
What do radical feminists fail to explain? (Evaluation of radical feminist explanation)
Female DA
What percentage of men have experienced DA according to the 2013 CSEW?
18%
What does the radical feminist explanation wrongly assume? (Evaluation of radical feminist explanation)
Wrongly assumes that all women are equally at risk of patriarchal violence as the ONS found that people from certain social groups are at greater risk of DA
Examples of social groups that are at greater risk of DA
Low social classes
Living in shared or rented accommodation
Those with long-term illnesses
High level consumers of drugs/alcohol
What does the materialist explanation focus on?
The economic and material factors to explain why some groups are more at risk than others
Examples of economic and material factors (materialist explanation
Income
Housing inequalities
What do Wilkinson and Pickett see DA as result of? (Materialist explanation)
Result of stress on family due to social inequities
What increases the risk of conflict and violence between partners? (Materialist explanation)
High levels of stress due to low income and poor living conditions
What is Wilkinson and Pickett’s approach useful for doing? (Evaluation of materialist explanation)
Useful for explaining the class differences in DA stats
What do Wilkinson and Pickett fail to explain? (Evaluation of materialist explanation)
Fail to explain why women are the main victims of DA
Who is Ansley?
A Marxist feminist
What does Ansley describe wives as?
“Takers of shit”
Who says DA is a product of capitalism?
Ansley
Why is DA a product of capitalism according to Ansley?
Because male workers are exploited by workforce and take their anger out on their wives
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, how has violence of husbands against their wives been treat historically?
There has been widespread acceptance for violence of husbands
Historically, what was male DA reinforced by?
Social institutions
Which sociologists looked into the culture, history and social structure explanation of DA?
Dobash and Dobash
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what does D and D say contemporary culture continues to accept?
Contemporary culture continues to accept that it is appropriate and reasonable for husbands to use force to control their wives
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what do D and D say about expectations of husbands?
Husbands are still expected to be dominant in families
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what type of institutions are families according to D and D?
Patriarchal institutions
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what attitudes does a wide culture reinforce?
A wide culture reinforces attitudes that DA is used to ensure wives carry out their ‘duties’ as mothers and wives, so tolerate DA
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what situations did DA usually come from according to a D and D 1998 study?
Situations where interests of husband and wife diverged and the men wanted to ensure that their interests prevailed
According to the culture, history and social structure explanation of domestic abuse, what were key factors of DA according to D and D’s 1998 study?
Possessiveness and jealousy
According to the masculinity and violence explanation for DA, who is DA more commonly used by according to D and D?
DA is far more commonly used by men against their female partners than by women against men
According to the masculinity and violence explanation for DA, what is DA seen as a part of by D and D?
DA is seen as a part of the masculine identity
What are important signs of masculine worth?
Force and intimidation
According to the masculinity and violence explanation for DA, how do most male domestic abusers excuse their actions?
They say they were pushed into it and have no choice but to respond forcefully to challenges to authority by women
