Mills Paper (Sociology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mills Paper (Sociology) - Essay Example Depending on family and relationship history forms of violence differ by cause, etiology, manifestation, and impact. Although an act of violence, a â€Å"hit,† directed at a current or former intimate partner may appropriately be labeled â€Å"intimate partner violence,† as Sue Osthoff explained, â€Å"a hit is not a hit. Context matters. A lot. A whole lot† (2002:1540). Not all â€Å"hits† are created equal. In recent years, and increasingly, practitioners, researchers, and advocates, are considering distinctions among types of violence and specifically re-asserting and clarifying violence as a particular dynamic. From the perspective of Mill’s personal trouble, violence is characterized by a systemic pattern of behavior (rather than isolated acts of violence) that establishes dominance over another person typically through intimidation, coercion, isolation, and terror-inducing violence and threats of violence (Dutton & Goodman, 2005:748). Power an d control are central as motives for and impact of violence. The language of â€Å"coercive control† or â€Å"coercion† has also been used to describe the phenomenon of violence (Dutton & Goodman, 2005:748). Kelly and Johnson (2008) described coercive controlling violence (a concept previously labeled patriarchal terrorism and then intimate terrorism ) as â€Å"emotionally abusive intimidation, coercion, and control coupled with physical violence against partners† (Kelly & Johnson, 2008:478). Violence as â€Å"a personal trouble† is most often chracterized with battering, a term that has been used in some cases as a synonym for any violence against an intimate partner, regardless of context. Battering may, and typically does, include distinct acts of violence, however not all acts of violence are a component of battering (Osthoff, 2002:1535). Non-battering violence might include