Power and Violence in Families: Understanding Dynamics and Seeking Solutions

1. Chapter 13 Power and Violence in Families

2. Power • Power is the ability to exercise one’s will. • Personal power or autonomy – power exercised over oneself • Social power – the ability of people to exercise their wills over the wills of others • Parental power – power between parents and children • Marital power – power between married partner

3. Bases of Marital Power • In discussions of marital power and decision making, we see the interplay of three bases of social power: • Resource Power • Legitimate Power • Informational Power

4. Resource Power • Traditionally gave provider husbands greatest power in marital decision making, including the capacity to keep troubling issues and decisions from even rising • The equation of resources (that is, earnings) with power hasn’t worked in the same way with women.

5. Legitimate Power • Gender structure exerts an influence independent of breadwinning or relative financial contributions • A residual sense of the propriety of traditional male privilege—that is, legitimate power—ascribed more authority to men even in situations where they lacked resource power.

6. Informational Power • In an interesting note, women can sometimes gain power from their greater knowledge of the household. • They can use this informational power to shape decisions about purchases and household arrangements.

7. Power Politics and No-Power Relationships • Marriage and other intimate partner relationships that partners find fair and equitable are apt to be stable and satisfying. • These no-power relationships do not mean that one partner exerts little or no power; it means each partner has the ability to influence and be influenced by the other.

8. Family Violence • The use of physical violence to gain or demonstrate power in a family relationship has occurred throughout history, but only in the last 50 years has violence been labeled a social problem. • Intimate Partner Violence: Spouses, ex-spouses, and current or former boyfriends or girlfriends, including same-sex partners, are considered intimate partners.

9. Domestic Violence Local advocacy groups draw attention to efforts to prevent domestic violence and to the need for more resources.

10. Why Do Men Do It? • Attempt to compensate for feelings of powerlessness or inadequacy • Attempt to maintain control over partners trying to become independent of the relationship

11. Why Do Women Live With It? • Fear • Cultural norms – women encouraged to put up with abuse • Belief that it’s a woman’s responsibility to keep a relationship from failing • Love • Economic dependence • Hopes for change • Childhood experiences with domestic violence • Low self-esteem

12. Power and Control Wheel

13. Cycle of Violence

14. Research on Intimate Partner Violence • Husbands or other male partners have higher rates of inflicting the most dangerous and injurious forms of violence. • Violence by husbands or male partners does more damage, because of a man’s greater physical strength. • Violent acts by men are more frequent, tending to be repeated over time. • Verbal abuse is the most common. • 14-24; years most likely to be involved in abusive relationship • Average abusive rel. lasts about 11 years or 7 attempts to leave the abuser.

15. Research on Intimate Partner Violence • Intimate Terrorism • Abuse that is almost entirely male and that is oriented to controlling the partner through fear and intimidation • Situational Couple Violence • Mutual violence between partners that often occurs in conjunction with a specific argument • Involves fewer instances, is not likely to escalate, and tends to be less severe

16. Research on Intimate Partner Violence • Abuse among Same Gender, Bisexual, and Transgender Couples • It was initially assumed that the greater similarity in power of same-sex couples would deter couple violence—unfortunately not. • Rates are comparable to heterosexual domestic violence. • Few resources exist to serve their needs.

17. Stopping Relationship Violence • Shelters • Counseling and Group Therapy • The Criminal Justice Response

18. Stopping Relationship Violence • Shelters • A network of shelters for battered women provides a woman and her children with temporary housing, food, and clothing to alleviate the problems of economic dependency. • They also provide counseling, guidance in attaining employment, and legal assistance.

19. Stopping Relationship Violence • Counseling and Group Therapy • Approximately 25% of male abusers engage in repeat intimate partner violence. It is difficult to evaluate the success of intervention programs because of design problems, low response rates, and high dropout rates. • Couples’ therapy programs are somewhat controversial because they proceed from the premise that a couple’s staying together without violence after an abusive past is possible.

20. Stopping Relationship Violence • The Criminal Justice Response • Little legal protection for battered women in the past. • Laws have changed to make arrests for domestic violence more feasible, and some states have policies that mandate arrest in certain situations. • A literal reading of mandatory arrest law has resulted in the arrest of victims.

21. Risk Factors For Child Abuse • A belief in physical punishment • Parents who have unrealistic expectations about what the partner should be like, carries onto child • Parents who abuse were often abused or neglected as children.