FCS 2400 March 28 2006

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FCS 2400 March 28 2006

• Power and Violence in Marriages and Families

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Chapter 14 Outline

• What is Power?
• Family Violence

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Announcements

• No exam back today. I need to massage the scores
  a bit.
• Interesting news story
• "Jenni's Story" From Man to Woman Part 1 SALT
  LAKE CITY, UT(2006-03-28)Jennifer Lee Jackson is
  a former Mormon male, and a former Sandy City
  councilman who is now a 54-year-old woman running
  for a Utah state senate seat. Visit this link
  for the full story http//publicbroadcasting.net
  /kuer/news/content/894815.html

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Power

• Power is the ability to exercise ones will.
• Power exercised over oneself is personal power.
• Social power is the ability of people to exercise
  their wills over the wills of others.
• Parental power is power between parents and
  children.
• Marital power is power between married partners.

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Six Bases of Power

• Coercive - ability to punish with psych,
  emotional or physical abuse. Classic dv issues
• Reward - ability to give material/nonmaterial
  gifts and favors. Donald trump?
• Expert - dominant partners superior judgment,
  knowledge or ability. Educational imbalance or
  personality?
• Informational - persuasive content of what the
  dominant partner tells another individual. Better
  fighter?
• Referent less dominant partners emotional
  identification with the dominant partner. I give
  the power away..
• Legitimate - individuals ability to claim
  authority. Given by society?

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Talking about Power

• Authoritarian versus egalitarian
  householdsimplications for power
• Decision making in the householdwhat kind of
  power is most prevelant?
• Are power imbalances inherent in marriages? How
  about parent child relationships? Even
  friendships..

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The Resource Hypothesis

• Spouse with more resources has more power in the
  marriage.
• Focuses on background characteristics and doesnt
  consider how partners interact.
• Explains marital power only when there is no
  overriding egalitarian or patriarchal norm.
• What kind of resources are important?

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Domestic Violence in Historical Perspective

• Domestic violence violent acts between family
  members or between women and men in intimate or
  dating relationships

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The Twentieth Century

• The Political Model of Domestic Violence
• Power and authority of men over women
• Social structure supported mens control over
  women through law and social custom
• Rule of Thumb man could beat his wife with
  stick no thicker than his thumb
• Deeply rooted in laws and customs
• End only with political action by womens groups
  and their allies

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The Twentieth Century

• Medical Model
• Domestic violence seen as illness and source of
  injury
• Both victim and abuser in need of help
• First 20 years of 20th century saw establishment
  of domestic relations courts
• No real movement until 1962
• Battered Childrens Syndrome
• By 1967 all states enacted reporting suspected
  cases of child abuse

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The Twentieth Century

• No attention to wife beating until
• mid 1970s
• Political pressure by Feminist movement
• Rape became an issue
• Formation of services for rape victims
• Feminist movements fundamental goal was to
  remove social supports of male violence

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What Do We Know?

• Cannot tell if it has increased or decreased
  because there is no historical tracking device
• Some surveys gathered information about violence
  between adults in intimate partnerships

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What is Domestic Violence?

• Definition difficult - no consensus between
  public or academic researchers
• Medical model -- injury in physical abuse sexual
  penetration in sexual abuse
• Broken bones, cuts, and bruises
• Political perspective
• Broader definition -- minor injuries or threat of
  serious injury
• Includes attempts at coercion through threats or
  slapping
• Including all levels of violence in definition
  works toward ending mens domination over women
  through use or threat of physical force

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Intimate Partner Violence

• Amount of violence that has occurred over time
  may not have changed, but the attention we have
  paid to it has
• Examples..

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Intimate Partner Violence

• Estimates are that 20 to 25 of the women in the
  United States have been physically abused by an
  male intimate at least once
• Recent survey showed that 22 of women reported
  an act of violence had occurred at least once by
  an intimate partner
• Women reported higher rates of intimate partner
  violence
• National Crime Victimization survey of 2004
  supports this finding
• Report also substantiated that rape occurs
  between intimate partners

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What about among same sex couples?

• Not as many services
• Fear of stigmatization
• Video application..

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Some Explanations

• Social Learning Perspective
• Frustration Aggression Perspective
• Social Exchange Perspective

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Social Learning

• Individuals learn behavior they will later
  exhibit by observing what others do and seeing
  the consequence these actions
• Video applicationcycle of foster care violence