Theoretical Explanations for Domestic Violence Social Research Paper

Theoretical Explanations for Domestic Violence
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Theoretical Explanations for Domestic Violence
Introduction
Domestic violence is one of the major societal problems experienced around the world. According to Guerin and Ortolan (2017), domestic violence encompasses aspects such as bullying, intimidation, and in extreme cases, murder perpetrated by an individual within a domestic setting. Over the years, scholars and different stakeholders have made efforts to identify means of reducing the incident of domestic violence and mitigate its effect on victims and society in general. However, domestic violence remains an issue, with most victims being women and perpetrators being men. This is not to say that women are always the victims because, in some cases, women initiate domestic violence on men. Historically, domestic violence rooted in the patriarchal system characterizes many societies worldwide (Tonsing & Tonsing, 2017). For this paper, domestic violence addresses violence against women, a shared perspective through feminism. Gosselin (2019) indicates that the feminist perspective on domestic violence views domestic violence as a form of oppression against women. Understanding how domestic violence occurs and why it remains such a thorny issue in today's society is the first step towards creating a more effective approach to protect victims and assign responsibility to perpetrators. This paper aims at providing a theoretical framework that can help gain different perspectives on domestic violence, thus creating a better understanding of the issue. To achieve the paper's aim, a literature review is provided explaining two major domestic violence theories and a critique of the theories that will then offer recommendations on how domestic violence can be lessened.
Literature Review
This paper will focus on two main theories, namely: the resource theory and the patriarchal theory.
Resource Theory
Access and control of resources in a domestic setting are paramount in determining the power distribution. People who control resources within a domestic setting have more power when it comes to decision-making, among other things. This is why the resource theory is an important theory that has been used as a theoretical foundation for domestic violence. The resource theory posits that individuals have more power within a relationship if their contribution to resources within their specific setting is high (Lenze & Klasen, 2016). In traditional family settings, men contribute more in terms of resources because they are considered the primary breadwinners. As such, they possess more power over other family members, which puts them in a position of dominance. According to Aziz, Idris, Shak, Wahid, and Yazid (2018), domestic violence, as explained by the resource theory, occurs when men in this traditional role of the primary breadwinner have access to few resources and, as such, providing adequately for their families becomes a challenge. This lack of resources can strain relationships and put too much pressure on the involved parties. As indicated by Lenze and Klasen (2016), when a household has access to more resources, the economic and financial pressure decreases. Consequently, the incidence of domestic violence reduces. Based on this information, it suffices to say that when women can contribute to the household resources, they are less likely to experience domestic violence because the levels of financial stress would decline.
However, empirical evidence seems to contradict this line of thought. Access to more resources links to an increased probability of domestic violence in some cases (Aziz, Idris, Shak, Wahid, & Yazid, 2018). When women in traditional family settings start contributing to the household resources, they gain a higher bargaining power, which can be intimidating to men in those traditional settings. As a result, they might want to exert other forms of power over these women in physical violence and intimidation. This is even worse when the woman contributes to more resources, as explained by the gendered resource theory, which indicates that such women are at an even higher risk of domestic violence (Aziz, Idris, Shak, Wahid, & Yazid, 2018). As such, contributing to more resources does not always translate to more power, which challenges the resource theory's basis in explaining domestic violence.
Patriarchal Theory
Patriarchy has allowed men to establish dominance and control over women, thus giving them grounds to practice violent behaviors towards women. Patriarchy entails men having and exerting more power on women to maintain superiority within society and family dynamics (Tonsing & Tonsing, 2017; Namy et al., 2017). Fundamentally, patriarchy is both structural and ideological. In terms of structure, the concept of patriarchy has been supported by social institutions and relationships that have been organized to give men more power in society (DeKeseredy, 2020). In terms of ideology, patriarchy has established the means of justifying itself within society. The patriarchy theory forms a good theoretical explanation of domestic violence because it explains the power imbalance between men and women. It proposes that patriarchy has been used to justify dominance against women to maintain the power imbalance. Tonsing and Tonsing (2017) reveal that based on patriarchy's theory, wom...