Applied Theory of Domestic Violence Sociology Essay

9/5/2016
AppliedTheoryOfDomesticViolenceSociologyEssay
Applied Theory Of Domestic Violence

Sociology Essay
Published: 23, March 2015
Domestic violence is a transgression that takes place regularly all over the world.
Domestic violence has been conrmed to be a product of psychological, physical, sexual
and mental forms of anguish or suering. Domestic violence also referred to as spousal
abuse or family violence, refers to a pattern of violent behaviors executed by one
spouse against another in an intimate aliation such as courtship, family, matrimony,
or who are staying together. In majority of the cases, the abusers seek to gain power
and authority upon their victims (Boss, Doherty, LaRossa & Steinmetz, 1993).
Domestic violence occurs in various forms: physical abuse (beating, kicking, cutting,
shoving, limiting, slapping, throwing items); emotional abuse; sexual abuse;
dictatorship; intimidation; pestering; passive abuse (neglecting); as well as nancial
deprivation. Other forms of domestic violence include endangerment, criminal
oppression, kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, intruding and harassment (Boss, Doherty,
LaRossa & Steinmetz, 1993).
Domestic violence is a social issue: women are assumed to be the weaker gender in the
society and for this reason, majority of them are the main victims to domestic violence.
The magnitude of domestic violence executed on women is more damaging than the
type of abuse executed by women (Boss, Doherty, LaRossa & Steinmetz, 1993).
Domestic violence has been reported to be passed from one generation one generation
to the next. When children witness domestic violence within their homes, they grow up
knowing the domestic violence is acceptable and grow to be abusers (Cyleste &
Dressier, 2008). For these reasons, it is very important to treat domestic violence as a
social problem and appropriate steps should be put in place to eradicate the practice.
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Impact of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is a punishable oence in majority of the nations and its impact on
the society is often tolerated by governments in the form of court overheads and trial
related expenses. Additionally, a lot of time and resources is wasted on domestic
violence trials and either one or both of the parties often lose their jobs in the process
of pursuing the cases (Adelman & Kil, 2007). However, the utmost societal impact is
experienced by children that witness and experience the violence while growing up.
Social scientists believe that children whose guardians have had an abusive aliation
have a higher possibility of being abusers in their relationships in future. These children
mature to be persons that strive for control and power in their relationships; they aim
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for control by abusing their partners. Power can be dened as the capability to acquire
what one desires especially in the presence of an opponent whereas authority refers to
the institutionalized legal power. Bearing in mind that children form the future
generation, it is dangerous to tolerate domestic violence given that it will spread to the
future generations (Adelman & Kil, 2007).
Theories of Domestic Violence

Various social theories and rules have been proposed so as to assist in understanding
the reasons behind domestic abuse: symbolic interactionism theory, social conict
theory and Structural Functionalism Theory. The social conict theory holds that
domestic violence occurs in an intimate relationship when one partner possesses more
resources than the other partner, so as to compensate for one's wounded ego, the hurt
partner usually resort to violence (Chibucos & Leite, 2005).
On the other hand, the structural functionalism theory holds that domestic violence
arises when the government (learning institutions) and the nuclear family fails to
appropriately execute its roles. The structural functionalism theory also proposes that
domestic violence occurs when women strive to occupy instrumental roles that are
meant for men. According to O'Leary K, Smith and O'Leary S (2007), the main victims of
domestic violence are women because men seek for an alternative through violence
when they cannot occupy the instrumental roles in the society.
The symbolic interactionism theory maintains domestic violence arises when partners
in a relationship fail to understand each other's symbols and meanings. The symbolic
interactionism theory maintains that it is very important for the two partners to share
symbols and meanings in marriages, otherwise, domestic violence arises (Lehrner &
Allen, 2008).
Theories Explaining Domestic Violence

Applied Paper Step 2
Domestic violence is currently on the rise and is normally associated with intimate
relations between husband and wife. Dierent sociologists and researchers have
developed dierent theories that explain the causes of domestic violence. The domestic
violence theories explain the reasons behind domestic violence practices and propose
solutions to domestic violence. The researchers believed that domestic violence is as a
result of control and power issues, whereby the perpetrators felt the need to have
control over their partners. Understanding the proposed theories of domestic violence
theories will assist in minimizing the domestic violence cases.
Characteristics of Domestic Violence Theory

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There are various characteristics that are associated with the domestic violence
theories. One common characteristic in all the domestic violence theories is the fact
that they present possible reasons behind domestic violence. The theories propose
dierent principles that have to be followed, otherwise, domestic violence arises. The
theories mainly suggest that domestic violence is as a result of power, insecurity and
control issues. The main purpose of domestic violence according to the theories is
evaluation of power; when one party feels inferior, they resort to domestic violence.
Conict theory
Conict Theory holds that the society is often in a state of eternal conict and there is
competition for scarce resources. According to the conict theory, individuals who
possess wealth continuously seek to increase their riches at the expense and misery of
individuals who do not have wealth. The conict theory holds that there is a power
struggle in the society that is frequently won by the rich elite and often lost by the
ordinary person (American Psychological Association, 2010).
Marriage as a social institution contains a variety of resources that may not be equally
distributed. Some of the resources include job, talent, repute and money. When one
partner lacks the resources, a sense of inferiority complex is generated and thereafter a
sense of conict occurs. When the intensity of conicts rises, it results to abusive
behavior causing domestic violence. Most of the times, conicts arises in an intimate
relationship when one partner possesses a better job than the other, or earns more
money than the other partner. So as to compensate for one's wounded ego, the hurt
partner normally resort to domestic violence (Boss, Doherty, LaRossa & Steinmetz,
1993).
Structural Functionalism Theory
According to the Functionalist Theory, the society is often in a continuous state of
balance and maintained in that condition through the on-goings of the society.
According to the social functionalist theory, men are supposed to hold instrumental
position within the society whereas women are expected to occupy expressive roles.
Social functionalist theory holds that this arrangement works well to the benet of the
entire society. Domestic violence especially by men is executed so as to oer an
alternative when they cannot occupy the instrumental roles in the society.
In functionalism, the nuclear family is considered to be a positive organization that is

advantageous to the entire society. The functionalists hold that the nuclear family
executes meaningful functions for the benet of the whole society. The functions
include: reproduction whereby the nuclear family produces children that sustains the
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human race; primary socialization where the nuclear family educates the children about
acceptable
support
whereby the
acceptable values; economic
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Print behavior as well as the
nuclear family oers nancial assistance and provides food and shelter to every family
member (American Psychological Association, 2010). When these functions are not
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executed,
domestic violence arises. Additionally, people are considered to be the result
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the social controls upon
them: their relations, acquaintances, educational
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surroundings
and their contact(https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?
with the media (Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008).
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According to the functionalist point of view, the government is supposed to provide

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basic schooling for the children of the nuclear family in the society, which sequentially
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pays duty on which the government depends to sustain itself. To be precise, the family
depends on the school institutions so as to assist children to grow up uprightly and
afterwards have good professions so that they may also raise and maintain their own
families in future. Consequently, the children turn out to be law-abiding, respectable
and taxpayers who later support the state (Lehrner & Allen, 2008).
According to the Functionalist Theory, domestic violence arises when the government
(learning institutions) and the nuclear family fails to appropriately execute its roles.
When the school fails to oer basic education for the children, they fail to understand
the morals of the family and consequently perpetrate domestic violence. Additionally,
when the nuclear family fails to reproduce, train children and fail to provide nancial
support, domestic violence arises. This is because the family will not be at peace and
there will also be pressure to get the missing items and hence resulting to domestic
violence (Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008).
Symbolic Interactionism Theory
Interactionism can be categorized into two theoretical forms: social exchange and social
symbolic interaction. Symbolic Interaction theory holds that the society is made up of
pervasive interactions amongst people who share symbols as well as their meanings.
Symbolic Interaction theory is essential when trying to understand relationships and in
improving interactions.
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Symbolic Interactionism is very inuential in helping individuals to understand one
another. Partners in an intimate relationship have to apply symbolic interactionism so
as to understand other people's point of view. So as to understand other people's
symbols and meanings, both the partners need to be on a common ground. Even in
marriages it is very important for the two partners to share symbols and meanings,
otherwise, domestic violence arises (Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008).
Comparison of the Domestic Violence Theories

Evaluation of the three domestic violence theories provides a clear understanding of
the motives behind domestic violence. According to the social conict theory, domestic
violence also crops up when one of the partners feels the desire to have more control
over the other partner because of unequal distribution of resources. The conict is
mostly instigated by the partner who desires to have more power According to
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American Psychological Association (2010).
2
hand, the social functionalist
hold
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On Print
the other
theory, men
are supposed to
instrumental
position within the society whereas women are expected to occupy
expressive roles (Boss, Doherty, LaRossa & Steinmetz, 1993). There exists a power and
authority variation within the patriarchal family where man is believed to be in control.
sociology-essay.php)
According
to the social functionalist
theory, most of the abusers believe that it is their
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responsibility
in society to make
sure that their women are kept in line. Domestic
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violence occurs when women strive to occupy instrumental roles that are meant for
men. At the moment, there are many women within the labor force despite the fact that
men still seem to possess more wealth and ideological authority than women. Keeping
this in mind, violence is considered to be a technique of exercising control and also
maintaining power. Domestic violence is considered to be a social issue that has its
foundations in gendered principles and in continuing wealth inequities (Eaton, Davis,
Barrios, Brenner, & Noonan, 2007).
According to symbolic interactionism theory, the society aects an individual's behavior

through various constraints posed by dierent societal norms and principles. Symbolic
interactionism theory holds that individuals live in a symbolic society and a physical
world. People normally have dierent interpretations for dierent symbols. So as to
understand human conduct, it is signicant to understand the meaning of a behavior.
When two partners in a marriage understand each other's symbols, they ultimately
have a mutual understanding and know each other better (Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008).
For this reason, they will not have any reasons for domestic violence in their
relationship. The partners in a relationship learn about themselves and form personal
feelings founded on they react to each other when they interact with each other.
Applied Paper Step 3

Most reviewed literature suggests dierent reasons that cause domestic violence and
thereafter try to suggest appropriate solutions. Most literature forms identify control
and insecurity issues to be the main causes of domestic violence. The literatures tend to
prove the three domestic violence theories: symbolic interactionism theory, social
conict theory and structural functionalism theory.
Method Used
Most theorists treat domestic violence as a social issue. The researchers utilized
qualitative research methods such as interviews and focus group discussions were used
for data collection. A qualitative method was considered by the researchers to be the
most appropriate in presenting the opportunity to obtain a rich contextual
comprehension of the dynamics from the participant's point of view. Additionally,
qualitative methods prioritized participants' opinions hence increasing the precision of
the research. The research conclusions conrmed the hypotheses of the theories that
maintained that power and control issues are the main causes of domestic violence.
Conclusion
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inferior and consequently

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Domestic
when one partner feels
Print violence mainly arises
resorts
to conicts so as to make up for feeling inferior. Domestic violence and violent
relationships amongst parents negatively aects the personality of the children and
also aects
the manner in which they handle their future intimate relationships. In
order
to end domestic violence,
children should be raised in a peaceful surrounding in
sociology-essay.php)
which
they are nurtured to nourish
and respect relationships. Additionally, domestic
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violence in parents causes depression and negatively aects the children's emotional
health (Murrell, Christo, & Henning, 2007). When children suer from stress and
depression at tender age, their learning abilities are negatively aected and this impairs
their health.
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9/5/2016

Applied Theory Of Domestic Violence

Theories of Domestic Violence

Theories Explaining Domestic Violence

Characteristics of Domestic Violence Theory

In functionalism, the nuclear family is considered to be a positive organization that is

According to the functionalist point of view, the government is supposed to provide

Comparison of the Domestic Violence Theories

hand, the social functionalist

According to symbolic interactionism theory, the society aects an individual's behavior

Applied Paper Step 3

inferior and consequently

More from UK Essays

More Sociology Essays

Examples of Our Work

Sociology Dissertation Examples

Place Your Order Today

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