SOC 174 Study Guide - Final Guide: Intimate Partner Violence, Puritans, Sexual Assault
Document Summary
The recent attention to highly publicized cases of child abuse and wife battering is not the first outpouring of public concern about domestic violence. Rather, the history of domestic violence in the united states shows short periods of public attention separated by longer periods of neglect. The periods of attention have had less to do with the prevalence of violence than with the power of various political and social groups. The beatings that many women in shelters have endured from husbands and living boyfriends would fit anyone"s definition of family violence. There is disagreement among the public and academic researchers about exactly what constitutes domestic violence. Child abuse new paragraph hitting children is the most tolerated form of family violence. Indeed, nearly all parents spank or slap their children at some point. Although it is difficult to make historical comparisons, the use of physical force against children may have been more prevalent in the colonial times than ever since.
