NCJ Number
196088
Journal
Revija za Kriminalistiko Kriminologijo Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: January-March 2001 Pages: 11-20
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article highlights certain tensions in the traditional family institution that generate diverse forms of violence between intimate partners.
Abstract
Violence in the family is a topic that has attracted attention from criminologists in recent years. This can be explained by the influence of feminist-oriented social studies and by the “state of art” in social practice, especially in the area of intimate, love, family, and sexual relations. This area has undergone radical changes from the disrupted Cultural Revolution in the second part of the sixties. There is a decay of feudal or pre-modern models of the organization of personal and interpersonal life practices in the sphere of intimacy. This is connected to gender roles. These complex and diverse processes are conflictual, so it is not surprising that this conflict is described by commentators with militaristic vocabulary. This is illustrated by the use of such labels as the “war between genders,” and “the struggle for power in the family.” In spite of uncontested and irreversible dramatic innovations, the old institutional forms still determine behavioral and emotional patterns in family relations. 34 footnotes, 32 references