ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the etiology of wife abuse using the Violence Against Women Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. Two major theoretical models are compared. The power theory developed by Murray Straus and his colleagues focuses on power imbalance in the family. The major argument is that the family is a system which responds to broad social-structural conditions that produce stress and conflict Low-income families, families in which the husband has a low-status occupation, and 228families in which one or more adults are unemployed are characterized by high levels of stress. When stress is mediated by a personal history of aggressive socialization, and if social support mechanisms are lacking, violence is legitimized as a means of coping.
Feminist theory focusses on the ideology of familial patriarchy, which supposedly teaches men how and when to use violent techniques, and structured gender inequality on a societal level which disadvantages women relative to men in terms of their economic, legal, educational, and other options. The data indicate that a culture of male dominance is central to the etiology of wife abuse but that it is an insufficient explanation. Men who have a father who is abusive to his wife, who have been unemployed, who are married common-law, and who have a low family income are significantly more likely to adhere to a familial ideology of patriarchy. Previous experience with violence also has a direct effect on the likelihood of being abused. A theory which incorporates gender inequality along with other sources of power provides a better explanation for who is most likely to be abusive.
