Current Controversies on Family Violence / Edition 2

by Donileen R. Loseke

Overview

Loseke (sociology, University of South Florida) collects readings highlighting current controversies, research, and policy directions in family violence. Chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates, and educators shed light on all sides of issues such as date rape and elder abuse. Chapters in this second edition are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not experts in the field. The book will be useful to students and researchers in social work, psychology, and criminal justice. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900761921065
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	09/28/2004
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Donileen R. Loseke is a professor in the department of sociology at the University of South Florida. She received her BA and MA in psychology (California State University, Dominguez Hills) and her Ph D in sociology (University of California, Santa Barbara). Her books include The Battered Woman and Shelters, which won the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, and Thinking About Social Problems. She also is the editor of Current Controversies on Family Violence (with Richard Gelles) and Social Problems: Constructionist Readings (with Joel Best). Numerous journal articles and book chapters report the findings of her empirical research projects, which have been on a variety of topics including evaluation research, social problems, criminal justice, social service provision, occupations, emotion, identity, and narrative and have used a variety of data generation techniques including field experiment, written survey, in-depth interview, ethnography, and document analysis. Among her editorial positions include editor of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, advisory editor for Social Problems and Deputy Editor for Social Psychology Quarterly. She received the Mead Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and will be the 2017 President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Richard J. Gelles received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Hampshire. He is the Dean of The School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania and holds The Joanne and Raymond Welsh Chair of Child Welfare and Family Violence in the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Youth Policy and Co-Director of the Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, and Research. His book, The Violent Home was the first systematic empirical investigation of family violence and continues to be highly influential. He is the author or coauthor of 23 books and more than 100 articles and chapters on family violence. His latest books are, The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Children's Lives (Basic Books, 1996) and Intimate Violence in Families, Third Edition (Sage Publications, 1997).

Mary M. Cavanaugh, MFT, M.S. is currently a doctoral candidate in both Social Welfare and Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been involved with numerous research projects on intimate violence that have been submitted to the National Institute of Justice and the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a practitioner in the field of domestic violence facilitating batterer intervention service programs in cooperation with adult probation and parole departments and victim service agencies. She has served as a consultant and trainer on offender risk assessment and treatment services to state and local victim service agencies and youth and family service departments. Ms. Cavanaugh has recently completed a project for the U.S. Army on "The Evaluation of Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention Strategies ". She also serves as a consultant to the Violence Against Women and Family Violence Research and Evaluation Program for the National Institute of Justice.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Understanding Controversies on Family Violence	ix
Section I	Controversies in Conceptualization	1
Issue 1	Family Violence: What Type of a Problem Is It?
1.	Through a Psychological Lens: Personality Disorder and Spouse Assault	5
2.	Through a Feminist Lens: Gender, Diversity, and Violence: Extending the Feminist Framework	19
3.	Through a Sociological Lens: The Complexities of Family Violence	35
Section II	Controversies in Definition and Measurement	49
Issue 2	Women's Violence Toward Men: A Serious Social Problem?
4.	Women's Violence Toward Men Is a Serious Social Problem	55
5.	Men's Violence Toward Women Is the Serious Social Problem	79
Issue 3	Date and Acquaintance Rape: Exaggerated Problems?
6.	More Data Have Accumulated Supporting Date and Acquaintance Rape as Significant Problems for Women	97
7.	Advocacy Research Overstates the Incidence of Date and Acquaintance Rape	117
Issue 4	Spanking: Necessary and Effective?
8.	Proper Socialization Requires Powerful Love and Equally Powerful Discipline	131
9.	Children Should Never, Ever, Be Spanked NO Matter What the Circumstances	137
Section III	Controversies in Cause	159
Issue 5	Alcohol and Addictive Drugs: The Causes of Violence?
10.	Alcohol and Other Drugs Are Key Causal Agents of Violence	163
11.	Association Is Not Causation: Alcohol and Other Drugs Do Not Cause Violence	175
Issue 6	Abused Elderly and Their Abusive Offspring: Who Is Dependent?
12.	Elder Abuse Is Caused by the Perception of Stress Associated With Providing Care	191
13.	Elder Abuse Is Caused by the Deviance and Dependence of Abusive Caregivers	207
Section IV	Controversies in Social Intervention	221
Issue 7	"The Battered Woman Syndrome": Time to More On?
14.	Explaining Without Pathologizing: Testimony on Battering and Its Effects	225
15.	Battered Woman Syndrome: Tool of Justice or False Hope in Self-Defense Cases?	241
Issue 8	Child Sexual Abuse Education: Good Prevention?
16.	Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Is Appropriate and Successful	257
17.	Is There Empirical Evidence to Support the Effectiveness of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs?	271
Issue 9	Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting: Too Much or Too Little?
18.	Overreporting and Underreporting Child Abuse and Neglect Are Twin Problems	285
19.	The Main Problem Is Underreporting Child Abuse and Neglect	299
Issue 10	Family Preservation: An Important Goal in Child Abuse Intervention?
20.	Family Preservation Is the Safest Way to Protect Most Children	311
21.	Protecting Children Is More Important Than Preserving Families	329
	Conclusion: Social Problems, Social Policies, and Controversies on Family Violence	341
	Author Index	349
	Subject Index	359
	About the Editors	369
	About the Contributors	371

Editorial Reviews

A volume about some of the most important and most hotly debated issues surrounding family violence, presenting opposing views side by side in 22 chapters that are organized in four sections: issues in conceptualization, issues in definition and measurement, issues in causes, and issues in social intervention. For students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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