domestic violence

Summarise domestic violence?

• Domestic abuse is a pattern of controlling, threatening, degrading and/or violent behaviour

• Mostly experienced by women and perpetrated by men

• In most cases, the perpetrator is a partner or ex-partner

what is the statistic for the amount of domestic violence in UK?

In the year ending March 2025, 7.1% of adults had experienced domestic abuse in the past year

suggest 3 types of abuse?

any of the below:

• coercive control

• emotional abuse

• physical/sexual abuse

• financial abuse

• online abuse

• harrasment/stalking

what is the psychological view of D.V?

it’s the behaviour of a few disturbed people

sociologists say this reasoning is wrong, what are the 2 reasons why?

• It is too widespread

• It does not occur randomly – e.g. mainly men against women

who is a sociologist that agrees with this?

Dobash and Dobash

what do they say?

• Violent incidents can be triggered by anything a husband sees as challenging his authority (e.g. questioning his whereabouts) - marriage legitimises violence against women by giving men power

Knowing the number of victims tells us little about what?

• Frequency or severity of abuse – e.g. women are more likely to be afraid of their partner than men

• It is also very hard to count separate incidents as some live under constant threat

how many assaults does a women experience before reporting?

• 35

why might this be? (3)

• They believe it is not a police matter, they see it as too trivial

• They fear retaliation from their partner

• Police and prosecutors are reluctant to investigate and record cases of domestic violence

what are 3 assumptions police make to not get involved in family life?

• Families are a private sphere

  Families are positive spaces

• Individuals are free agents – can leave abusive situations

what does this create?

This creates a big dark figure of domestic violence with lots of unreported/unrecorded cases

who is a radical feminist who explains the reason for D.V?

Millett and Firestone

what do they say?

• All societies are founded on patriarchy

• Family and marriage are key institutions that oppress women

• Helps to explain why most domestic violence is committed by men

• Men are also in charge of state institutions like the police and courts so are reluctant to investigate effectively

what are 3 disadvantages of the radical explanation?

• Not all men benefit from violence against women, and most actively oppose it, despite having power

• Cannot explain violence perpetrated by women – e.g. child abuse

• Wrongly assumes all women are at equal risk of patriarchal violence but certain groups are at greater risk, including: young women, those of a low social class/living in deprived areas

what’s the materialist explanation of D.V?

Inequalities in economic/material factors (e.g. income, housing) explain why some groups are at more risk

what sociologist argues about materialistic factors?

Wiklinson and Pickett

what are the 3 reasons they argue causes D.V?

• Low income and overcrowded housing increases stress levels which reduces the chance of maintaining a stable relationship

• People with a lack of money also usually have a smaller social circle, which can reduce the amount of support they receive

what are 2 positives of the materialist explanations?

• It explains why women are victims – men are the ones who work and women are the ones they take their frustrations out on

• Explains why working class are victims – this is the class that are most exploited and therefore most frustrated

However, this cannot explain why women are usually victims

explain the marxist feminist explanation?

• The Marxist feminist explanation can explain both why women are more likely to be victims and why inequality might cause domestic violence – Ansley says women are ‘takers of sh*t’ who are victims of domestic violence due to their husbands experiencing stress at work from their capitalist employer then taking their frustration out on their wives

• However, Marxist feminist explanation is still unable to explain why not all exploited male workers commit acts of violence against partners though