Family - The Dark Side Of The Family

Question 1

Give some statistics on family crime

Answer 1

Most recorded murders,assaults and child abuse, sexual or otherwise take place within the family unit

Two domestic killings of women each week in the uk, accounting for 40% of all female murders

3/4 of all violence is domestic

One child a week dies at the hands of its parents mostly father or step father

Question 2

How did the home office define domestic abuse

Answer 2

2000
Any violence between current or former partners in an intimate relationship wherever and whenever it occurs violence may include physical,sexual,financial or emotional

Question 3

What does a Sclater(2001) say about domestic violence

Answer 3

Behaviour such as kicking and punching is easily recognisable where as behaviour such as threats,verbal abuse,psychological manipulation or bullying and sexual intimidation are less easy to categorise and may not be recognised by some men and women as domestic violence and effecting repotting levels

Question 4

What did the NSPCC Cawson study find and when

Answer 4

2000

7% of children experience physical abuse during childhood
6% emotional
11% sexual
6% neglect

So in conclusion around 16% of children will experience will experience abuse at the hands of their parents at some point

Question 5

What did the NSPCC’s survey find (2011)

Answer 5

1,761 young adults aged 18-24

One in ten had been severely neglected by parents during childhood

Question 6

How many children spoke to childline about sexual abuse in 2008/2009

Answer 6

16,094

10% of all calls answered

Question 7

What happend to the annual number of children counselled by childline between 2004/05 to 2008/09

Answer 7

It rose by 24%

From 8,637 to 12,268

Question 8

What do official statistics say about violence by ,en against their female partners

Answer 8

It accounts for a third of all reported violence and nearly one in four women has been assaulted by a partner at some time in her like and one in eight repeatedly so

Question 9

What did Stankos survey find

Answer 9

That one incident of domestic violence is reported by women to the police every 30 seconds in the uk

Question 10

Give two reasons why official statistics under-estimate the amount of domestic violence

Answer 10

Women are reluctant to report it

Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record it

Question 11

Why may the Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to ( domestic violence )

Answer 11

They believe the family to be a private institution in which there should be minimal interference

Question 12

Why may Women be reluctant to report it

Answer 12

Ashamed
Love the person
Be financially dependent on them
Feel its their fault
Don’t want to split the family especially if there are children
Geographically mobile-have known were to go as educational success spreads people away from friends and family
May not be taken seriously afraid of repercussions
Think they can change their partner

Question 13

What did Yearnshire find

Answer 13

1997

On average a woman suffers 35 assaults before reporting it

Question 14

Mirlees-Black and Byron do and find

Answer 14

1999
Used data from the British crime survey and found women were more likely to suffer domestic violence than men -70% of violence reported is violence from men against their female partners

(Underestimated)

Question 15

What did Nazroo’s research indicate

Answer 15

That wives often live in fear of men’s potential domestic violence or threats whilst husbands rarely feel frightened or intimidated by their wives potential violence

Also violence on women is usually more violent then violence by women to a man

Question 16

What percentage is female violence against men

Answer 16

At best 5%

Question 17

Explain the new right explanation of domestic violence

Answer 17

Conservative commentators :

• happens in dysfunctional families
• happens from the instability of family’s e.g. Cohabitation and divorce and define in moral standards
• lower class
• feminists exaggerate male violence and under estimate female violence

Question 18

How is the new right perspective on domestic violence criticised by feminists

Answer 18

Believe that make violence against women women is both much more serious and much more common than female violence against men

Question 19

What are the five feminist explanations of domestic violence

Answer 19

Gender role socialisation 
Nature of masculinity 
Crisis in masculinity 
Alienation and powerlessness at work 
A patriarchal society, state and police force

Question 20

Explain Gender role socialisation

Answer 20

Boys are socialised into masculine values :
Risk-taking behaviour
Toughness
Aggression
So some boys and men may see violence as a legitimate problem solving device

Women are socialised to be passive and subordinate so which may be why some women operate domestic violence

Question 21

Explain the nature of masculinity

Answer 21

brookman(2008) carried out in depth interviews with violent men and conclude that nature of masculinity is also to blame

Masculinity values control over others so men can resort to violence if there is a loss of control over the female

Question 22

Explain a crisis is in masculinity as a feminist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 22

Brought up to be breadwinners but feminisation of the economy ( challenges the males status as the breadwinner) and male unemployment suggests a crisis in masculinity

Women are demanding more authority and asking men to do more domestic tasks but men see this as a threat to their masculinity so may resort to violence to reassert their status in the family as men’s traditional source of identity is no longer guaranteed

Question 23

Explain Alienation and powerlessness at work

Answer 23

Marxist feminist say capitalism has stripped male workers of dignity, power and control at work
Surveys of factory workers suggest that many are bored by the tedious nature of their work and many are alienated

Fran Ansley and Diane feeley say men’s distraction sand alienation is absorbed by women (domestic abuse)
Powerlessness at work can be compensated by asserting power and authority via violence and so act as a safety valve as men do not then direct their violence at their bosses

Question 24

What does feeley suggest in Alienation and powerlessness at work

Answer 24

Children experience such families as authoritarian units dominated by males - it is therefore no wonder that young males grow up into dominating and violent husbands

Question 25

What is alienated

Answer 25

Workers cannot identify with or bring themselves to care about the product they are productions and so feel powerless and resent management practices

Question 26

Explain a patriarchal society, state and police force through pizzey ( radical feminist)

Answer 26

Pizzey said that in a male dominated society domestic violence is widely tolerated and not seen as a serious crime.

Patriarchal values lead to female partners being seen as essentially property of their male partners and so using violence is seen socially acceptable

He has been criticised as social attitudes have dramatically changed since the 1970’s and so consequently it is less socially acceptable

Question 27

Explain a patriarchal society, state and police force through the BBC survey Hitting Home

Answer 27

Showed that 80% of the sample would report a neighbour to the authorities for abusing an animal but only 55% would report a neighbour to the police for abusing a female partner

Question 28

Explain a patriarchal society, state and police force through dobash and dobash

Answer 28

The police traditionally regarded it as domestic or private affair between husband and wife and were extremely reluctant to prosecute husbands however now there are positive signs that the government and police forces are now willing to condem and punish such violence

Argued that the authorities don’t take this seriously

Question 29

Explain a patriarchal society, state and police force through Elliot

Answer 29

Points out that all men are aggressive and most are opposed to violence

Question 30

Why has the radical feminist stance on domestic violence been criticised

Answer 30

They imply that all men benefit from domestic violence and fail to explain female violence on children and men

Question 31

Who look at postmodern explanations of domestic violence

Answer 31

Anthony Giddens (2006)
Wilkinson (1996)

Question 32

Explain what Anthony Giddens (2006) argues

Answer 32

The nature of family life makes violence common
Family life is characterised by emotional intensity and personal intimacy so even minor arguments can escalate into acts of violence
The increasing isolation of nuclear family from extended kinship networks may be increasing this intensity

Question 33

Explain what Giddens meant by emotional intensity and personal intimacy

Answer 33

That the family life is charged with strong emotions which are often mixing love and hate

Question 34

Why may Giddens explanation of domestic violence be criticised

Answer 34

It does not explain why violence is common in some families but not others

Question 35

Explain Wilkinsons postmodern explain action of domestic violence (1996)

Answer 35

Result of the stress on family members cause by social inequalities such as low incomes, living in overcrowded institutions , debt etc
Worries about money,jobs and housing may spill over into domestic conflict

Question 36

Explain Wilkinsons conclusion of what he argued

Answer 36

Those with less power,status,wealth or income are often at the greatest risk of being the perpetrators and victims of domestic violence

Question 37

What is a weakness of Wilkinsons explanation

Answer 37

Fails to explain why women are the main victims of this type of violence

Question 38

Who talks about radial psychiatry

Answer 38

Edmund Leach
David Cooper
RD Laing

Question 39

What did Edmund Leach argue

Answer 39

‘It’s privacy and tawdry secrets is the source of all our discontents’
As the family is isolated family members tend to take more great emotional demands on each other such as expect an great deal from their children which is not always lived up to and parents may be disappointed, even disillusioned with their children.

Spouses to make unrealistic demands and resulting in ‘parents fight and children rebel’

Question 40

What does the radical psychiatrist David Cooper argue

Answer 40

The family is responsible for turning imaginative children into conformist robots through:
- teaching them to be conformist and not free and spontaneous e.g. teaching them to always obey orders from authority

• teaching taboos and causing feelings of guilt e.g. Sex
• teaching to discriminate against people outside the home e.g. Racism in society

Question 41

What is the conclusion from all the studies on the dark side of the family

Answer 41

They all challenge the functionalist assumption that the nuclear family is functional both for society and individuals

Question 42

What would feminist sociologists conclude about domestic violence

Answer 42

As long as men have the capacity to commit such violence there will never be equality within marriage

Question 43

What are three main points which RD Laing argues

Answer 43

Schizophrenia is caused by experiences within the family

Family relationships are potentially destructive

We react to this anxiety by forming alliances within the family in order to maximise our chances of receiving love

Question 44

Explain RD Laing’s point of Family relationships are potentially destructive

Answer 44

Because the intensity of the nuclear family means that we worry about how much we are loved by other family members particularly our parents such as someone might suspect that their brother is their parents favourite

Question 45

Explain RD Laing point of that we react to this anxiety by forming alliances within the family in order to maximise our chances of receiving love

Answer 45

Such as we might side with one parent against another in an argument
In this way family members become more like gangsters offering each other mutual protection and love to be used against another member and this becomes the basic of mental breakdown and family arguments and feuds which can last for years