FAMILIES & HOUSEHOLDS - DARKSIDE

Question 1

domestic violence/abuse

Answer 1

-in the last 5 years there was an average of 68 child deaths a year in the UK by assault or undermined intent
-children under the age of one are the most likely age group to be killed by another person, followed by young men
-child homicides are most commonly caused by the child’s parent or step-parent
-boys outnumber girls in most cases, except for sexual abuse, which is 4x more likely for girls

REASONS FOR STRESS AND VIOLENCE IN FAMILY LIFE:
->families are increasingly isolated/private
->conflict/division in society
->relative depression
->longer working hours and more pressure
->the patriarchy
->intense emotional warning

STATS:
->violent crime is 60% higher than official stats suggest
->the amount of violence against women and domestic perpetrators both increase by 70%
->domestic violence is “invisible” in police recorded crime statistics as there is no legal category for “domestic violence” but there is for “homicide” and “assault” and there is no category for gender or victim/perpetrator relationship

Question 2

feminist explanations for DV

Answer 2

MARXIST FEMINISM:
->Ansley suggested that “women are the takers of shit”
->men take out their frustration from their exploitative work environment on their wives and children
->the family becomes a “safety valve” of exploited male workers in a capitalist system

RADICAL FEMINISM:
->Kate Millett: “the personal is the political”
->this explains that personal/intimate relationships are political due to the inequalities of power
->domestic abuse is a way for men to assert dominance
->patriarchal power reinforces power divisions
->Dobash and Dobash (1979) argues that marriage (a patriarchal institution) legitimises violence and abuse towards women

CRISIS OF MASCULINITY:
->now that women have more rights and power than they used to have, men feel threatened and as a result express their power through domestic violence
->it is said that “family is the most violent place for a woman”
->25% of DV cases are wife assaults
->2% of wives report abuse

Question 3

the radical psychiatrists

Answer 3

-Cooper, Laing, and Leach believe family is a source of emotional damage and social control, stifling personality and creativity

DAVID COOPER (MARXIST):
->the family is a dangerous socialising agency producing obedient citizens
->family props up capitalism by encouraging obedience to authority figures
->children get desensitised to abuse and exploitation

EDMUND LEACH:
->family is a claustrophobic institution where parents fight and children rebel
->family is like “living in a chicken coop” and families “overload circuits”

R.D. LIANG (RADICAL):
->the family is a key source of madness (schizophrenia)
->family life is a tangled web of conflict and tensions
->tensions pull children apart, resulting in psychiatric problems