NCJ Number
146259
Date Published
1993
Length
241 pages
Annotation
This book views the battering of women as a social phenomenon and attempts to develop a needs-based, primary prevention, social structural approach to battering.
Abstract
Battering has its genesis in specific social arrangements that simultaneously foster a high prevalence and incidence of battering and significantly thwart the development of both individual and collective human potential. Acts of violence between intimates, often part of a battering system, may reach far beyond physical violence to include sexual, psychological, emotional, and spiritual violence. Acts of interpersonal violence, however, are conditioned by and create social arrangements that obstruct human development and therefore constitute structural violence. The dynamics of battering on an interpersonal level can only be understood in the wider context of institutional or structural violence. Battering most often occurs in an environment of hierarchical power arrangements, and the battering of women by men is located in specific gender, economic, and decisionmaking structures. Battering is symptomatic of women's structurally denied access to collective resources and opportunities for development, participation, dignity, and respect. As a social phenomenon, battering is specifically related to the social structural and cultural dynamics of society and to the social organizational and interpersonal dynamics of families. The meaning and effect of battering experiences for women are explored, and a theoretical framework is presented that places interpersonal and structural violence in context. The author makes recommendations on how to break the cycle of violence that deal with interpersonal interventions, community-coordinated interventions, criminal justice system changes, and the development of individual and collective potential. References, notes, tables, and figures