domestic violence Flashcards
define domestic violence (Home Office)
- any incident or pattern of incidences of controlling coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those 16 or over who are or have been partners or family members
- can be physical or psychological
what is a common view of DV?
- that it’s the behaviour of a few disturbed/’sick’ individuals
- its causes = psychological rather than social
how have sociologists challenged the common view?
- DV is far too widespread
- DV doesn’t occur randomly
what do sociologists mean when stating ‘DV is far too widespread’?
- it’s too widespread to be simply the work of a few disturbed individuals
- women’s aid federation 2014: DV accounts for between 1/6 and 1/4 of all recorded violent crime
- crime survey for England and wales 2012: two million people reported having been victims of DV during previous year
what do sociologists mean by ‘DV doesn’t occur randomly’?
- it doesn’t occur randomly but it follows particular social patterns and these have social causes
- it’s mainly violence by men against women
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Coleman et al: women more likely than men to experience ’intimate violence’ across all four types of violence:
- partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking
- Coleman and Osborne: two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner
what did Dobash and Dobash find in their research?
- Scotland
- based on police and court records and interviews with women in women’s refuges
- cited examples of wives being slapped, pushed about, beaten, raped, or killed by husbands
what did Dobash and Dobash find about violence incidents?
- could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority eg wife asking why he was late home for meal
- argue that marriage justifies violence against women by showing power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
what did the crime survey for England and wales find about the gender gap of DV being reported? (ao3)
- it’s narrow
- 7.3% women (1.2 mil) compared to 5% men (800k) reported having experienced DV in 2012
- however, other studies show a wider gap
what did Walby and Allen find about gender gap in DV?
- women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence
what did Ansara and Hindin find about gender gap in DV?
- women suffered more severe violence and control, with more serious psychological effects
- also found that women were more likely than men to be fearful of their partners
what did Dar find about gender gap in DV?
- it can also be difficult to count separate DV incidents, as abuse may be continuous
- eg living under constant threat
- may also occur so often that victim can’t reliably count the instances
what do official statistics on DV understate?
- the true extent of the problem
why do official statistics on domestic violence understate the true extent of the problem? (1)
- victims may not report to police
- yearnshire: woman suffers 35 assaults before reporting
- least likely violent crime to be reported
- dar: victims may think it’s not for police, too trivial, or fear reprisals
why do official statistics on domestic violence understate the true extent of the problem? (2)
- police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute
- cheal: police and state agencies not prepared to get involved in family
- they make three assumptions about family life
what are the three assumptions about family life made by police and other state agencies?
1) that the family is a private sphere, so access to it by state agencies should be limited
2) that the family is a good thing and so agencies tend to neglect the ‘darker side’ of family life
3) that individuals are free agents, so it is assumed that if a woman is experiencing abuse she is free to leave
- however, this is not true
- male violence is often coupled with male economic power
- abused women are often financially dependent on their husbands and unable to leave
what does the lack of action by police and prosecutors mean in relation to domestic violence cases?
- only a small fraction of cases are prosecuted
- 2006-11: conviction rate was just 6.5% of reported incidents
what are the two explanations of DV?
- radical feminist explanation
- the materialist explanation
how do radical feminists interpret findings like those of Dobash and Dobash?
- as evidence of patriarchy
- millet and firestone: all societies are founded on patriarchy
- key division is between men and women
- men are the enemy, oppressors, and exploiters of women
how do radical feminists view the family and marriage in patriarchal society?
- family and marriage are key institutions of patriarchy
- main source of women’s oppression
- men dominate women through domestic violence or the threat of it
how do radical feminists view domestic violence in patriarchal society?
- widespread domestic violence is inevitable in patriarchy
- it preserves the power men have over women
how do radical feminists explain the prevalence of domestic violence and the response of state institutions?
- most domestic violence is committed by men
- they link it to dominant social norms about marriage
- male domination of state institutions explains police and court reluctance to handle domestic violence effectively
ao3: Elliot (radical feminist explanation)
- Elliot rejects the claim that all men benefit from violence
- not all men are aggressive
- most men oppose domestic violence
- CA: radical feminists ignore this fact
ao3: female violence (radical feminists explanation)
- they fail to explain female violence
- including child abuse by women and violence in lesbian relationships
- 18% of men (2.9 million) in England and Wales have experienced domestic violence since age 16
ao3: patriarchy (radical feminists explanation)
- use concept of patriarchy to explain why most victims of DV are women
- but they wrongly assume that all women are equally at risk of patriarchal violence
- they explain why it is women and not men who are victims
- but they fail to explain which women are most likely to be victims
