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Domestic Violence Sociology Essay

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Domestic violence is an act of battery or psychological harm that is done by one individual to another, often acted with the intention to gain authority and dominate the other causing them to apprehend fear. As Goodmark, L. (2012, p.1) explains, historically domestic violence was treated as a private affair, an extension of the husband’s right to control the behaviour of his wife, to be handled within the confines of the home. However, domestic violence is no longer viewed as a private matter, it is now a public matter that has attracted the attention of the law, arising many social services and ease of access to help.
Domestic violence has become a major issue in society that has gained a great deal of public support, resulting enhanced progress in action against the crime. A reflection of the support behind the …show more content…
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim’s research demonstrate the view of there being a crisis in masculinity due to women reaching out to alternative lifestyles involving serial monogamy, economic independence, and pre-marital sex. The qualities of women stated in their research are recognised to be associated with men traditionally, which links back to the point made earlier regarding the mixing of gender roles being the reason of domestic violence. Sociologists Dobash and Dobash take a more diverse approach to the issue, stating that marriage legitimises domestic violence and is triggered by trivial challenges to the husband’s authority as husbands don’t allow their wives to instruct them on what to do. However, statistics reveal that in 2011, 54% of divorces granted to women were due to unreasonable behaviour (Relate, 2014). This conveys that more than half women simply do not put up with unreasonable behaviour any longer, which supports the view of feminists that women’s attitudes are

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