The Social Dynamics of Family Violence

The Social Dynamics of Family Violence explores family violence through the life course, from child abuse and neglect to intimate partner violence and elder abuse. Paying close and special attention to the social nature and institutional causes of family violence, authors Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith draw readers' attention to the ways that social inequality, especially gender inequality, contribute to tensions and explosive tendencies in family settings. As awareness, perspectives, and issues around gender-based and family violence evolve, so does the field, and the revised fourth edition of this textbook exposes faculty, students, and future practitioners and researchers to cutting-edge debates and new approaches to addressing violence within the family. Students learn about individual preventative measures while also being invited to question the systems and structures that create the conditions under which family violence continues to remain highly prevalent. A new chapter in this edition focuses closely on the public health dimensions of family violence and discusses the different theoretical frames and prevention and intervention approaches emanating from this perspective. The authors discuss other new developments and areas of focus, including brain injury and sexual and domestic violence, as well as abolitionist discourses and approaches to thinking about, and responding to, family violence. With these newer discussions complementing the text's foundation in theory and methods and its notable coverage of violence within different families and intimate relationships, the fourth edition of The Social Dynamics of Family Violence is an essential reference for any course examining the sociology of family violence.

Angela J. Hattery is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware and Co-Director of its Center for the Study and Prevention of Gender-Based Violence. Her research focuses on social stratification, gender, family, and race, and her writing on these topics and more have appeared in numerous articles, book chapters, and twelve books, including her latest co-authored book, with Earl Smith, Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement (2023). Earl Smith is Professor of Women & Gender Studies at the University of Delaware and Affiliate at its Center for the Study & Prevention of Gender-Based Violence. He also holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Sociology and the Rubin Distinguished Professor of American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University. He is the author of numerous distinguished works and books, including his latest, with Angela J. Hattery, Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement (2023).

1. Setting the Stage; 2. Historical Perspectives on Family Violence; 3. Theories for Studying Family Violence; 4. Methods for Studying Family Violence; 5. Abuse Across the Life Course: Elder Abuse; 6. Abuse Across the Life Course: Child Abuse; 7. Sibling Abuse; 8. Outcomes of Child Abuse: Increased Risk for Experiencing Violence in Adulthood; Adrienne's Story; 9. The Economy and Intimate Partner Violence; 10. Cultural Factors and Intimate Partner Violence; 11. A Public Health Approach to Gender-Based Violence; 12. Religion and Family Violence; 13. Institutionalized Violence; 14. Violence in LGBTQ Families; 15. Prevention and Avoidance: The Early Warning Signs; 16.The Response to Family Violence: The Criminal Justice System and the Social Welfare System; 17. Where Do We Go from Here?