Families, Violence And Social Change

by McKie, Linda

• ISBN13: 9780335211586
• ISBN10: 0335211585
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

"This comprehensive analysis on abuse committed in the home provides insights at both the micro and macro levels... The book combines legal and social science approaches in a way that makes it essential reading for anyone studying or working on violence-related issues." Kevauml;t Nousiainen, University of Helsinki, Johanna Niemi-Kiesilauml;inen, University of Umearing; and Anu Pylkkauml;nen, University of Helsinki. "This excellent book offers a timely intervention into debates about violence. Whilst most debates still focus on the spectacular rather than mundane forms of violence, Linda McKie uses a synthesis of legal, sociological and feminist research to show how current debates fail to deal with the violence that underpins our lives." Prof Beverley Skeggs, University of London. An exciting new addition to the series, this book tackles assumptions surrounding the family as a changing institution and supposed haven from the public sphere of life. It considers families and social change in terms of concepts of power, inequality, gender, generations, sexuality and ethnicity. Some commentators suggest the family is threatened by increasing economic and social uncertainties and an enhanced focus upon the individual. This book provides a resume of these debates, as well as a critical review of the theories of family and social change: Charts social and economic changes and their impact on the family Considers the prevalence and nature of abuse within families Explores the relationship between social theory, families and changing issues in familial relationships Develops a theory of social change and families through a critical and pragmatic stance Key reading for undergraduate students of sociology reading courses such as family, gender, health, criminology and social change.

Table of Contents

Series editor's foreword	ix
Acknowledgements	xii
Introduction	1	(10)
Part one Families, violence and society
1 Your family, my family, their family	11	(24)
Introduction	11	(3)
Defining families	14	(2)
Imagining families	16	(2)
An ideal type? The absence of violence	18	(3)
Changing families: descriptions and explanations	21	(3)
Defining violence and violation	24	(3)
International organizations, governments and social movements	27	(3)
Establishing levels of violence	30	(3)
Summary	33	(2)
2 Violence in families	35	(20)
Introduction	35	(1)
The interweaving of public and private	36	(3)
Uncovering violence in families	39	(3)
Policies, practices and movements	42	(2)
Global perspectives	44	(3)
Safety and security	47	(3)
Her violence, his violence, their violence	50	(3)
Summary	53	(2)
3 Families: fusion and fission	55	(20)
Introduction	55	(1)
Developing a critical approach to families	56	(2)
In/exclusion: being in and belonging to families	58	(2)
Homeground	60	(3)
Private, public, privacy	63	(2)
Practices and projects	65	(2)
Shame and subjugation	67	(1)
Summary	68	(7)
Part two Gender, age and violence
4 Embodiment, gender and violence	75	(23)
Introduction	75	(4)
Definitions and declarations	79	(2)
Documenting domestic violence	81	(1)
Social Movements	82	(2)
Governmental responses	84	(3)
Finland: gender neutrality - disembodying policies	87	(2)
Scotland: a multi-agency, centralized approach to abuse	89	(3)
Sweden: challenging the normalization of violence	92	(2)
Summary	94	(4)
5 The ambiguities of elder abuse: older women and domestic violence	98	(23)
Introduction	98	(2)
Definitions and debates	100	(2)
Families, gender and prevalence	102	(3)
Boundaries, solidarities and assumptions	105	(1)
Social aspects of ageing	106	(1)
Situational exchanges	107	(1)
Actors, structures and meanings	108	(2)
Older women and domestic violence	110	(2)
The policy and legal context	112	(2)
'For years I got on with it'	114	(3)
Summary	117	(4)
Part three Towards a critical theory
6 Unpalatable truths: recognizing and challenging myths	121	(20)
Introduction	121	(2)
Romantic myths and hard realities	123	(3)
Homeground revisited	126	(1)
Gendering violence	127	(3)
Discovery and denial	130	(3)
Raising the voices of the abused	133	(2)
Governments, policies and violence	135	(3)
Summary	138	(3)
7 A critical social theory of families, violence and social change	141	(19)
Introduction	141	(1)
Mainstream/malestream theories: an absence of gender and families	142	(2)
Feminist and pro-feminist perspectives	144	(4)
Social worlds, social practices and social change	148	(2)
From an averted to a sociological gaze	150	(3)
Explanatory critiques	153	(1)
Conclusions	154	(6)
References	160	(11)
Author index	171	(2)
Content index	173