Domestic Violence

Question 1

Home Office definition of domestic violence

Answer 1

any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling coercive or threatening behaviour between those aged 16 or over who have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality

Question 2

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 2

• research in Scotland based on police court records and interviews with women.
• cite examples of wives being slapped, pushed, beaten, raped or killed by husbands
• found that violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority
• argue that marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on women

Question 3

Ansara and Hindin

Answer 3

• found that women suffered more severe violence and control, with more serious psychological effects
• also found that women tended to be more fearful then men of their partners

Question 4

Official Statistics

Answer 4

• understate the true extent of the problem for two reasons:
  Firstly
  Yearnshire - found victims may be unwilling to report it to the police.
  Dar- they believe that its not a matter for the police or that it is too trivial or from fear of reprisals
  Secondly
• police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute those cases that are reported to them
  Cheal- found that this was due to the fact that police and other state agencies are not prepared to become involved in the family
  this lack of action means that cases that are prosecuted are merely the tip of the iceberg

Question 5

Cheal

Answer 5

police make three assumptions about the family:
- the family is a private sphere so access to it by the state agencies should be limited
- the family is a good thing and so agencies tend to neglect the darker side of family life
- 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 dependant and are unable to leave

Question 6

Radical Feminist Explanation

Answer 6

• interpret findings such as those from Dobash’s as evidence of patriarchy
• widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society and serves to keep the power that all men have over all women
• this helps to explain why most domestic abuse is done by men.
• give sociological explanation by linking patterns of abuse to dominant social norms about marriage
• In their view male domination of state institutions helps to explain the reluctance of the police and courts to deal effectively with cases

Question 7

Radical Feminist Explanation - Millet and Firestone

Answer 7

• all societies have been founded on patriarchy
• see the key division in society as that between men and women
• men are enemy: oppressors of women
• see family and marriage as key institutions in society and the main source of oppression
• within the family men dominate through domestic violence or the threat of it

Question 8

+C: Radical Fem

Answer 8

• rejects the radical claim that all men benefit from abuse against women. Not all are aggressive and most are opposed. RF ignore this
• fail to explain female violence e.g. child abuse by women and violence against male partners and within lesbian relationships
• wrongly assume that all women are at risk of patriarchal violence. Fails to explain why men are victims and WHICH women are most likely to be victims

Question 9

Which women face greater risk of domestic violence?

Answer 9

• young women
• lowest social class and living in the most deprived areas
• those on low incomes
• living in shared and rented accommodation
• those with long term illness

Question 10

Materialist Explanation - Wilkinson and Pickett

Answer 10

• see domestic violence as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality
• some groups are more at risk than others
• those are at risk reduces their chances of maintaining stable, caring relationships and increases the risk of conflict and violence:
  for example worries about money jobs and housing may spill into domestic conflict
  lack of money and time restricts peoples social circle and reduces social support
• the findings of W & P show that not all people are equally in danger of suffering domestic violence

Question 11

Evaluation

Answer 11

- W & P approach is useful in showing how social
inequality produces stress and triggers conflict and violence. As those in lower social classes face greater hardships and stress this helps to explain the class differences 
- however unlike the Radical Fem, W & P do not explain do not explain why women rather than men are the main victims

Question 12

Evaluation - Marxists Feminists

Answer 12

• Marxists Feminists also see inequality causing domestic violence. Ansley see wives as ‘takers of shit’ - she argues that domestic violence is the product of capitalism: ,male workers are exploited at work and they take out their frustration on their wives