Sociological Perspective on the Prevention of Wife-Beating (From Social Causes of Husband-Wife Violence, P 211-232, 1980, Murray A Straus and Gerald T Hotaling, ed. - See NCJ-72913)

• NCJ Number: 72919
• Author(s): M A Straus
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: University of Minnesota Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprint of a paper first presented at the 1977 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

Annotation

This article discusses the social causes of husband-wife violence and the societal changes that could prevent it.

Abstract

Wife-beating reflects a society which permits violence in the media, in government, and in everyday life. The level of violence in all aspects of society reflects what is learned and generalized from family life, beginning with infancy. Since the family is an intimate group, the level of conflict within it is particularly high in fact, inevitable. The most pervasive set of factors bringing about family violence are those connected with the sexist structure of the family and society. The cultural norms and values which permit family violence reflect a hierarchical, male-dominant society. The solution to family violence thus lies in the complex interplay of cultural and social organizational factors which surround family life. Only by changing these cultural norms can violence be lessened. Twenty-one policy recommendations are made for reducing family violence. These include reducing violence as an instrument of government and in the media; enacting stringent gun control laws; eliminating physical punishment in child rearing; fostering full employment and equal rights; ending sexism and sex-stereotyped roles; and recognizing the inevitability of conflict in the family structure. Notes are included.