Violence

(these ideas drawn from Goode, 1994-2008 chapter 7. See the disclaimer)

What is violence?

Covert Institutional Violence

Cross Cultural

Sociological Focus:

Family Violence

(What follows in this sectionis data from Gelles and Strauss's 1980 study. For current data on domestic violence see the Bureau of Justice's Intimate Partner Violence in the USA. See also EndAbuse.org and the fact sheet from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Social Image of Seriousness (140 equals least)(Rossi, et al, 1974)

Beat spouse 91
Beat stranger 64
Stranger rape 13
Rape former spouse 62
  1. Of all killers of relatives- 61% received no penalty
  2. 53% recevied no penalty if killed friend
  3. 36% no penalty if killed stranger

1993-MO: father pays for son's defense in attempted murder of father

Spouse Abuse

(What follows in this sectionis data from Gelles and Strauss's 1980 study. For current data on domestic violence see the Bureau of Justice's Intimate Partner Violence in the USA. See also EndAbuse.org and the fact sheet from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Type Past Year Ever
Thrown 7% 16%
Slapped 7% 18%
Shoved 13% 23%
Beat up 1.5% 5%
Used weapon 1% 4%

(Gelles and Straus, 1980)

Why?

Why Stay?

  1. Degree/intensity
  2. Frequency
  3. As these vary==> leave
  1. Call back:
  2. 37% advised
  3. 33% off premise
  4. 19% arrested
  5. Major impact on policing-arrest rate up (4x in NY)
  6. Problem with replication: employment status as intervening variable.

Child Abuse: Have you beat your kids today?

(What follows in this sectionis data from Gelles and Strauss's 1980 study. For current data on domestic violence see the Bureau of Justice's Intimate Partner Violence in the USA. See also EndAbuse.org and the fact sheet from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

  Normal Good Necessary
Adult slap a child 77% 71% 70%
Adult slap adult 28/23% 15/9% 8/4%

Hitting Kids==> Norm

Widely practiced

  Past year Ever
Spank/slap 58% 71%
Push 41% 46%
Hit with object 13% 20%
Thrown object 5% 9%
Kicked, beaten 3% 4%
Beat up 1% 4%
Used weapon .1% 3%

Of most violent, past year==> 1.4-1.9 million events

Patterns

  1. More time spent with children
  2. Child's behavior reflects on their competence
  3. Frustration (lack of role opportunities)
  1. Authoritarianism
  2. Having been abused, social learning
  3. Unemployment, Stress, Poverty, isolation

Incest

Women not typically the victimizers

  1. Boys victimized by fathers
  2. Sex roles-male as aggressor, control
  3. Patriarchy
  4. Father's power, especially over children, especially over female children
  5. Brother-sister: males older, females-long term problems--most never marry

    Victims: ~19% females, 9% males (1998 study: 20%)

    Victimizers: brothers, uncles, fathers/stepfathers

    1. Stepfathers-7x rate of natural fathers
    2. 1/6 of females with stepfathers--abused, more frequent

      Father-Daughter: overall--traumatic, long-term, no positive aspects.

      1. 87% father sole economic provider

        Associated factors:

        • Wife out of picture
        • Mother/daughter estranged
        • Daughter assumes wifely household tasks--distortion of role structure--"surrogate wife"

    Costs to victim:

    • Exploitation-impacts ability to give/receive affection
    • Secrecy--tension and intimacy
    • Mother/daughter competition
    • Sexual object
    • Guilt
    • Self-blame

Homicide

Murder Myths

Murder realities (2004)

Subculture of violence

  1. Both parties accept legitimacy (26%)
  2. Murder transaction
  3. Assault-no one died
  4. Victim and perpetrator--similar pasts: legal troubles, previous fights, alcohol.
    • Most of us not participators, but could/would in right circumstances--Subculture defines appropriateness (manhood, family, country, etc.)
    • Not all situations, degree of participation
    • Sub-culture vs. Race and/or Class
    • Structural inequality and changing perception of life chances and appropriateness of violence
    • Jack Katz: Righteous Slaughter--humiliation=>Righteousness=>Rage

MURDER, Summary:
Thus: the same act, the taking of human life, is judged to be acceptable or unacceptable according to who is doing the judging


Murder in the United States Two Basic forms of non-criminal homicide
1. Excusable -  or an accident -  killing someone who jumps in front of your car
2. Justifiable - killing that results from the dictates of a legal demand - police killing a felon "in the line of duty"

What is or is not murder is socially constructed. The basic question we have to ask is: What sorts of killings qualify as criminal? CRIMINAL HOMICIDE:  the willful taking of human life, is not a random event

Rape

S. Brownmiller: criminal concerns related to the emergence of a monetary economy. First laws criminalized only the rape of a virgin--financial loss

Official definitions and patterns

Reporting Rape:

Audiences and Definitions

Inclusiveness and exclusiveness

Rapist's vocabulary of motive (Scully and Marolla, 1984)

  1. 47/114: admit, but excused (drunk, etc)
  2. 32/114: sex yes, but not rape
  3. 35/114: deny
  4. Construction of reality
General Public (see Goode 4th-6th editions)
  1. 7 scenarios, all rape: 54% define
  2. 1 extreme: only 92% define

CJS: simple vs. aggravated

Victim:

Blaming the victim:

Myths and reality

Men who Rape

Theories: individual, cultural, structural, situational

    1. Malamuth asks men: If no chance of getting caught, would you? 35% yes. Would you use force (vs. rape) 50% answer yes.
    2. Proclivity: believe rape myth, have used force, aroused by tapes of rape--similar results with convicted rapists.

Malamuth, et al 1992:

  1. Proximate causes- attitudes as above, anger towards women, impersonal sex.
  2. Distal factors: abused as child, socially poor and violent parents.

Summary, Forcible Rape:

Rape as a violent act.

This does not mean that rape cannot be other things

Rapists make up a mixed motivational bag, and violence does not represent the primary motive of all of them - even though they always engage in a violent act when they rape. The act is always violent, though the motive need not be.

We must examine how rape is seen, defined and judged by audiences.  A CONTINUUM OF JUDGEMENTS

Conclusions

White Collar Crime and Organizational Deviance

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/violence.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:13 PM