Perceptive differences on domestic violence against women

• Author: Atudorei, I. A.
• Position: Department of Social Assistance and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 87-92

Bulletin of the Transilvania Universit y of Braşov • Vol. 4 (53) •No. 1 - 2011

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law

PERCEPTIVE DIFFERENCES ON

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Ioana-Anisa ATUDOREI1

Abstract: This article analyzes the perceptive differences on domestic

violence against women. These perceptive differences refer to the moral

emotions that both specialists and non specialists believe that social actors

should experience when they commit an abuse qualified as an act of domestic

violence against women. The purpose of this research was on one side to

identify the potential perceptive differences of these moral emotions,

materialized as feelings of embarrassment, shame and guiltiness and on the

other side to identify any perceptive differences as far as women’ myths go.

Key words: domestic violence, “emotional blackmail”, physical abuse,

sexual abuse, moral emotions.

1 Department of Social Assistance and Communication, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

In the last three decades within general

sociology a distinct branch of sociology

emerged: the sociology of emotions. Moral

emotions can be classified into desirable

emotions and undesirable emotions,

depending on the category they belong to,

and regardless of the fact that they can be

positive or negative.

Subsequently the next works were

published: “A Social Interactional Theory

of Emotions” (Kemper, 1978), “Catharsis

in Healing. Ritual and Drama” (Scheff,

1979), the volumes “Emotion, Social

Theory, and Social Structure. A

Macrosociological Approach” (Barbalet,

1998) and “Emotions in Socila Life.

Critical Themes and Contemporary

Issues” (Bendelow, 1998), the works

“Feeling and Emotions. The Amsterdam

Symposium” (2004), “The Sociology of

Emotions” (Turner, 2005). (cf. Chelcea,

2008, 11-12).

In his famous work “Social Theory and

Social Structure” Robert Merton

introduces the idea that the revealing of the

unpredictable consequences of human

actions represents a fundamental goal of

sociology (Merton, 1936, pp. 421-436).

The concept of domestic violence goes

beyond the physical and sexual violence,

including also the “emotional blackmail”.

The emotional blackmail is a form of

domestic violence that is not legally

punished, but has destructive consequences

on human relationships. The emotional

blackmail can be defined as the form of

domestic violence that precedes the

physical abuse or goes along with the

physical or/and with the sexual one.

Domestic violence should be analyzed

from three points of view, depending on

the type of abuse, because each type marks

the person abused at a powerful degree.

This article’s starting point was an

exploratory research that was set, on one

hand, on comparing the points of view of