ICPR Abstracts: Session 39

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Session 39: Symposium

European Perspectives on Family Conflict
and Domestic Violence: Part II

Social Beliefs about Family Violence in Poland

Anna Kwiatkowska
Warsaw University at Bialystok

It seems to be almost impossible to deal with problems 
related to family violence in Poland because of the lack of 
public discussion and the confusing evidence provided by 
various institutions and professionals. One of the most 
important factors working against bringing the issue out in 
the open are widely shared, strong views about the high 
status and the respected position of Polish women in 
family and society. These convictions are deeply rooted in 
Polish history (Mother-Pole prototype), in catholic religion 
(Marion tradition as a source of norms for women), in 
Polish culture (woman a lady) and in communist ideology 
(lip service paid to gender equality). 
        The aim of the study is to examine beliefs about 
family violence in Poland, depending on which perspective 
is taken to judge the issue:  personal/gender perspective 
(Me as an individual/Me as a woman/man), relationship 
perspective (We as a couple), cultural/national perspective 
(We as Polish women/men). The focus is on the following 
aspects of family violence:  its extent in general and in 
social groups, forms, motives, individual/situational 
attribution, approval of various categories of violence, and 
solutions for the problem. 


Explaining Wife-Beating in Greenland:
Two Different Approaches

Bo Wagner Soerensen
University of Copenhagen

People in Greenland, and most likely elsewhere, tend to 
explain wife-beating in terms of something having gone 
wrong in society at a certain historical point of time. The 
specific local explanations as to what went wrong when 
and why are interesting in the sense that they represent the 
discourses in which violence is embedded. The discourses 
on violence are keys to the ways in which the phenomenon 
is talked about and explained, and thus also to the social 
practice surrounding the actual violence. By explaining 
violence as something introduced from outside or as 
something originating in specific historical changes, 
people tend to both externalize violence and search for the 
origin of a phenomenon that ultimately cannot be localized 
or explained in causal terms. As such, local discourses on 
violence say more about people's ideas of community, 
cultural identity, power relationships and people's own 
positionality than about the objective causes of violence 
which they are supposed to deal with. At the same time, 
the discourses seem to have a very direct impact on the 
actual violence taking place, and may even contribute to 
the fact that the phenomenon is thriving, even if this 
aspect of discursive implications is seldom recognized 
among local people themselves. 
        By focusing on ultimate causes and the origin of 
violence, people tend to pay very little attention to the 
practice of violence. Whereas I would prefer to look at 
violence from an agency perspective given the fact that 
violence must be embodied to make sense, people tend to 
look at violence from a symptom perspective, that is, as a 
modern nuisance or curse that seemingly exists in its own 
right and invades particular men who, for some reasons, 
cannot help but respond to its demands. The symptom 
approach is likely to neglect the aspect of personal 
responsibility for the use of violence as the perpetrators in 
general are seen as products of society, or victims of 
specific historical processes, and in this capacity they 
merely act like automatons. The general victimization 
means that the line between perpetrators and victims of 
violence is blurred. 
        A contemporary and popular discourse is one of 
changing gender relations, and thus also changing power 
relations, in the Greenlandic society. Greenlandic women 
in general are believed to have grown stronger during the 
modernization of Greenland, whereas Greenlandic men are 
believed to have experienced loss during the same period. 
The picture presented is accordingly one of winners and 
losers in a historical perspective. It is no wonder, then, 
that people tend to perceive male acts of violence as 
compensatory acts stemming from frustration, 
maladjustment and psychological insecurity. Altogether, 
this mental picture of society out of balance seems to 
imply a symptom approach to violence. On the face of it, 
the symptom approach to violence seems telling, but it has 
certain flaws and implications that I would like to 
comment on in the paper. 


The Need for a Culture Specific Approach
in the Prediction of Child Maltreatment

Helen Agathonos-Georgopoulou
Institute of Child Health, Greece

Although the risk approach is classic in the field of 
preventive health, it is fairly new in the prevention of 
child maltreatment. The disappointing outcomes of tertiary 
prevention and the scarce resources world wide call for 
secondary prevention through the early identification of 
those families who are in need for greater provision of 
services so that their child abuse potential will not find 
ground for expression. 
        A study in Greece comparing physically abusing 
and neglecting families and controls identified a number 
of characteristics which differentiated the two samples. 
Statistical analysis produced a high risk checklist which 
may be used for screening. Such screening has to be done 
in the context of an integrated approach including 
behavioral indicators of mother child interaction. Special 
emphasis has to be given to cultural characteristics which 
may act as predisposing or as protective factors to child 
maltreatment. The application of the risk approach in a 
culture specific context may prove valuable in the 
prevention of child maltreatment in different ethnic, 
religious and cultural milieus. 


Violence Against Women in Germany:
State of the Research and Current Issues

Carol Hagemann-White
Institute for Women and Society, Hannover, Germany

In Germany, empirical research on violence against 
women has been predominantly influenced by feminist and 
social work projects to serve victims/survivors. Only 
recently have some representative data become available 
on prevalence. In my paper, I will describe what types of 
empirical studies have been done, possibly with a 
comparative perspective to USA and Great Britain. I will 
then describe the study that I am currently beginning, 
which is looking for potential of community intervention 
and inter-institutional work. 

Discussant
Michael Johnson
Pennsylvania State University