Mahony, Carol
(1996)
The problem of domestic violence.
Private violence and Public Policy.
Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
Introduction.
The domestic life of domestic tyrants is one of the things which it is the most
imperative on the law to interfere with.
John Stuart Mill,
Principles of Political Economy.
The violence which husbands inflict on their wives is different from other sorts of
violence in that it normally takes place in a particular location and within a particular
set of social relations. It takes place in a setting which we perceive as a safe haven
in a heartless world, and within a relationship which for many people is a source of
happiness and security. The discrepancy between the violence and the setting
within which it takes place both makes it harder to harder to understand the problem
and makes it harder to help those who are the victims.
Who are the victims of domestic violence? They are most often women: wives, cohabitees,
girlfriends, daughters and mothers. The aggressors are most often men:
husbands, boyfriends, fathers and sons. The rarity of battered men is hardly
surprising given the history of heterosexual relationships, the power disparity which
has existed between men and women, the socialisation of the sexes and the
physical disadvantages of women.
In this thesis, I shall try to present an objective, comprehensive theoretical overview
of the problem of domestic violence. In Chapter Two, “Conceptualising family
violence”, I shall try and demonstrate this. In defining the types of problems we
face, theoretical frameworks define where we should look if we want to make sense
of violence, and hence where we should intervene if we want to stop it.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(Masters)
|
| Keywords: |
Domestic violence;
Private violence; Public Policy; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
5288 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
07 Aug 2014 17:03 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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