Comparing Burgess and Draper's Theory of Family Violence and the Film, The Burning Bed
I. Introduction
Burgess and Draper argue coercive patterns of family interaction represent the principal causal pathway that connects ecological instability to violence within families. They maintain this raises the possibility that some of the common correlates of such violence are themselves reactions to sudden or chronic ecological instability. For example, alcoholism, depression, and anxiety may be responses to ecological stresses in the family, such as loss of employment, excessive financial debt, or divorce. Burgess and Draper suggest that violence towards one's mate or children may consequently be a direct result of ecological
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(Ohlin, 87)
Economic instability can also be a direct cause for child maltreatment. As resources dwindle, Burgess and Draper suggest the "survival of the fittest" theory which implies that if there is only enough food for three people and there are four members in a household, it would be a waste to give the food to a member that is not economically viable or unlikely to survive even with the food. This is a very barbaric principle and does not reflect the cultural norms of today's American society. Undoubtedly, in some places, this may occur but the maltreatment of the Hughes children did not come in this form.
II. Emotional Reactions
As the social or family structure is changing, Burgess and Draper suggest a few common feelings that men in particular may encounter. The first feeling is anxiety. Change brings uncertainty especially if the person in question is not directly influencing the change. Having someone inferior start a chain reaction that takes away direct control, can be particularly debilitating to someone who has low self-esteem. This is one of the most common personality traits for abusers like Mickey Hughes. (Ohlin, 89)
Burgess and Draper also say that wife batterers have an "intrusive style", easily angered, display extreme jealousy, fear of abandonment and violent out busts in response to personal loss of authority. (Ohlin,
Although family relationships can provide stability and a sense of wellbeing, they can also involve physical violence, verbal and emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect (Holmes et al., 2016, p.
Also In the Rice Ray's case, it included both physical and verbal violences, in light of the fact that the feature indicated they had a quarrel before abusive behavior at home start. Then again, the violences against ladies is step by step turning into an ordinary issue, and individuals need to manage
Typically, domestic violence occurs between a man and a woman, and usually, women end up being the victims more often then men (Heidensohn, 2012). The male is usually more dominant because he is bigger and significantly stronger then the female. However, in recent years, men have been experiencing their fair share of abuse from women. According to a study done by the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men, “Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers’ reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental ill- ness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations” (Hines, 2007). This study measured 190 male callers who called the DAHM and the study shows that women can also batter men. This applies to the case of Jordan Graham and Cody Johnson because a wife murdered her husband. No one should ever underestimate someone else’s strength or aggression as those characteristics can be extremely hard to gauge. Cody Johnson may have had no prior knowledge of Graham’s temper and may have even felt as if he were the dominant figure in their marriage. Sometimes, it is easy to accuse a spouse of being the core reason for domestic abuse, whether it is verbal or physical abuse. However, domestic abuse can be seen as a problem for human beings in general, “Others have argued that violence is a
In her article, J.E. Brody writes about two types of abusive husbands- 'the cobra and the pit bull.' In this assay I will describe the similarities and the differences about the 'cobra's and the 'pit bull's types of husbands. The similarity between the two husbands deals with their violent behavior. Both the cobra and the pit bull express their feelings by the use of violent towards their wives.
Domestic violence according to our Psychology 110 textbook (Franzoi, 2009) could be linked to self-regulation failure (P. 66), ambivalent sexism behavior (P. 213), and aggression associated cues (P.441) experienced in the home. Self-regulation failure seems to become present in any situation where one spouse or the other is putting aside his/her wants to do what is considered important to the relationship, this kind of sacrifice sometimes only back fires later. Any minor incident or disagreement could cause
The controversial concept of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) is a psychological theory that aims to explain the behavior of certain women who suffer abuse from their husbands, partners, or significant others. The theory was first proposed and introduced by Dr. Lenore Walker in the 1970’s based on her clinical observations. It then quickly became a common way to validate criminal behavior of women who were charged with the murder of their partner, however since the syndrome wasn’t confirmed through scientific research as a real disorder, it didn’t enjoy widespread support from the forensic psychologist’s community.
The United States has a long history of domestic violence. Nearly six million American women will be battered by their spouses every year (United Way, 1998). Tradition gives men the right to control their family including their wife. Violence
The theory that best connects with the issue of family violence is systems theory. This theory entails that the “family as a system is thought to be best understood through the recognition that family members (as the parts of the system) interact with one another in such a manner that, over time, these interactions become patterned behavior” (Sutphin, McDonough, Schrenkel, 2013) Every family member that is within this family are characterized as subsystems. The main sub-systems are parent-parent, parent-child, and child-child. In most cases, what happens in the parent-parent relationship impacts both the parent-child relationship and the child-child relationship. A type of violence that can occur between the parent and parent relationship
These factors lead way for the continuum of abuse and neglect being passed on through family generations. Parents who were raised in an abusive household were commonly associated with abusing or neglecting their own children out of commonality and pattern related to what they knew as a child (Dixon, Browne, and Hamilton-Giachritsis 2005). “Straus (1980) not only found support for the hypothesis that ‘violence begets violence,’ but they also provide data which demonstrate that the grater the frequency of violence, the greater the chance that the victim will grow up to be a violent partner or parent” (Gelles 1980).
Sampson and Groves (1989) argued that if we use residential instability for example, this should not be regarded as a direct cause of crime, but as something which ‘fosters institutional disruption, and weakened social controls’ (Sampson et al., 1997: 919) (Sutherland et al. 2013 p. 3). Likewise, it is through that a lack of contact and the loss of trust in neighbours may contribute to criminal behaviour (Sampson et al., 2005). ‘Family disruption’ (lone parents) was added to the list by Sampson (1987) to an illustrative model of crime; this was thought to affect the ability of parents to manage their own children as well as their capacity to provide guardianship of the local community (Sutherland et al. 2013 p.3)
The earliest literature reference to domestic violence against men can be found in the studies of Suzanne Steinmetz (1977,1978) entitled, “The Battered Husband Syndrome.” She hypothesizes that the incidents of husband-on-wife beatings rivals the incidents of wife perpetrated batterings, and that it was husband abuse not wife abuse that was underreported form of domestic violence. Steinmetz used two United States populations, a broadband nonrepresentative group and a random sample in New Castle, Delaware in the form of police reports and family surveys. The small study found only small differences in the percent of men and women who resorted to violence in the context of pushing, shoving, or hitting with hands or an object. This suggested early on that domestic violence is not a one way street. Husband beating is a serious issue and needs attention due to the fact that it is grossly underreported. Steinmetz received numerous criticism from her colleagues on this concept. In later studies, Murray Straus, Richard Gelles, and Suzanne Steinmetz (1980), authors of the book, Behind Closed Doors: Violence in The American Family, supports Steinmetz’s earlier studies in finding that women acted violently during marital affairs compared to a similar number of men who act violently in the United States. The study used 2,413 family surveys, finding in majority of them that the level of violence was a mutual or bilateral activity, with only 27% of cases finding that husbands were the
In his 2003 paper Jeffery Adler states, "social scientists generally link domestic violence to strains and tensions in gender relations, especially men's efforts to preserve masculine authority. According to many criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists, wife beating represents a "strategy of patriarchal power, typically employed either to discourage women from challenging men's authority or reign in those who stray from established or expected gender roles." (Adler, 2003) In 1995, Michael P Johnson introduced two distinct forms of domestic violence. One is where families suffer from occasional outbursts of violence from either husband or wives (common couple violence) While others are terrorized by systematic male violence (patriarchal terrorism). The distinction between the two is important because it has implications on how policy is implemented, the development of intervention strategies, and educational programs. (Johnson 1995)
Everyone is different with a unique set of values which shapes our beliefs and views that affect our personal behavior. Domestic violence can happen to anyone no matter the race, ethnicity, or social economic status. According to Babcock, Gree, and Robie (2004), domestic violence is a learned behavior and is defined by the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2014) “Is when two people get into an intimate relationship and one person uses a pattern of coercion and control against the other person during the relationship and/or after the relationship has terminated. It often includes physical sexual, emotional, or economic abuse.” When defining the parties involved in domestic violence disputes, a batterer and/or victim can be male or female. For the purpose of research results we will discuss the batterer being male and the victim as female. The process of understanding domestic violence includes understanding human behavior in the social environment and examining battering from a batterer’s perspective.
The subject of husband-battering had finally been addressed, but not to the great satisfaction of anyone. Although it had finally been shown that there was violence being perpetrated both by wives and husbands, there was no information about relative frequency or severity, or who initiated the abuse and who was acting in self defense. Furthermore, some researchers became concerned that the use of police or social services references in choosing subjects to study might be biasing the results. In short, they recognized that battered husbands might be nearly invisible next to their female counterparts.
Domestic violence is a prevalent issue that has enormous consequences for both the victimized individuals and their families. There are many injuries, deaths, rapes, and separation of families, and other fatalities which can all be interconnected to domestic violence. Which raises the question who are the perpetrators? why are they violent? Were they also abused? The answers to these questions may shed some insight on what goes on inside the mind of an abusive and violent individual.