Altruism in Society: Domestic Violence
Domestic violence has been around for a very long time, and become well-known in the 1970 when the women’s movement was making a change in society and history. Domestic violence is crime that fights for power and control over another individual. This is America’s most common crime, and America’s least reported crime. In the past it was more common for women to be abused by men because of a woman place in the home, and the belief for subordination of women. Domestic violence is not just held to the privacy of a person’s home, it can be seen in the workplace and day-to-day life. Domestic Violence can occur in any socioeconomic group, and does have an impact on society. Persuasion can make the audience more aware of the threat, influencing to take a stand against violence. Domestic violence in a home can start a chain reaction; children who see abuse will mostly likely abuse a significant other. Intervention stops the abuse, and prevention can stop it from ever happening again. Domestic violence can be learned, it hurts everyone involved and affects society, whereas persuasion can eliminate this situation, along with intervention, and prevention.
Nature and History Domestic Violence
Domestic violence has been around as-long-as people or any group of animals has been traveling together. The definition of domestic violence is “a pattern of coercive behaviors used by a competent adult or adolescent to establish and maintain power and control over another competent adult or adolescent” (Burnett, 2011, p. 4) This type of abuse began as a ‘family matter’, friends, and leaders did not want to become involved because of a belief that it was not enforceable. It used to be that “The Common Law of England permitted a man to beat his wife, provided the diameter of the stick so used was not wider than the diameter of his thumb, hence, the term "Rule of Thumb” (Burnett, 2011, p. 2). How this started is preposterous in today’s world were women are equals and not just used to provide a family and cook the food for men. Then men who did abuse their wives were seeking to dominate the relationship and let their other partner know it was their way or nothing. Women could do nothing to stand up for themselves, or fight back. Today this is how many women and men think while trying to escape or gather the courage to escape the violence.
The nature of domestic violence includes different actions. This type of violence does not always include the physical abuse of the victim but also includes psychological and sexual abuse. Numerous forms of abuse can start from the very beginning of a relationship, or at birth for children born into families that are abusive.
Physical abuse is an individual punching, kicking, pinching, or hitting another individual. This type of abuse leaves the victim with bruises, sometimes broken bones, and can lead to death if the abuse is excessively violent. Many individuals who were abused go to the emergency room to receive care for their injuries.
Psychological abuse is the abuser trying to achieve a mental hold on an individual. They will put them down saying that they can never do anything right, they will do nothing important with their lives, or express general put downs about every day tasks (e.g. dinner not cooked right, laundry not done correctly, or when the victim has exciting news the abuser makes it seem not important).
Sexual abuse illustrates an abuser touching, penetrating, photographing, or forcing their victim to watch pornographic videos or themselves with another individual. Sexual abuse like any other form of abuse does not have an age limit. Abuse can start with infants and range to the elderly. Sexually assault as a child can cause the child to become narcissistic and have him or her reach out to many partners, or cause the victims to recoil inside him or herself while making his or her outer appearance unattractive to prevent any future possible encounters. Sexual assault as an adult can cause the individual to lose sight of what is important until the act consumes thoughts, and can take many years to recover from. This assault affects society.
Domestic Violence’s Impact on Society
Domestic violence has a significant impact on any society. Men battering women, women battering men, or adults battering children will affect the environment of the individuals in that particular society. When there is a situation of people constantly bickering and fighting, those situations causes division and the emotions of hatred. Domestic violence can have a link to an arrest, jail time; hurt loved ones, separation, mistrust, depression, and many other components. First, children can be the victim of domestic violence. A child involved in a domestic matter can impact a society. The child will first believe he or she is the only one receiving the abuse among his or her peers. The child will demonstrate a desire to be isolated of his or peers. Grades and school cooperation may show a steady decline because of the domestic violence. A decline in grades will result in a low grade for the entire school, which in turn affects school funding. If an adult is arrested for domestic violence to a minor, that adult will cause the taxpayers’ dollar to increase because of court cases and imprisonment. Second, disturbance can be in a community from the acts of domestic violence. When there are many domestic violence cases in a certain community, the community will have a drop in the market value of their homes. A consistent of crime in one area will cause renters or owner not to want to lease or purchase in that area. If a person is practicing altruism, he or she would want what is best for the community including his or her immediate surroundings. Nothing good can or will stem from the acts of domestic violence. Someone is always hurt or in pain from a domestic violence situation. The hurt and pain can result in a person needing psychotherapy and a supportive group of family and friends around. Two elements of persuasion can assist with this stopping this violence.
Two Elements of Persuasion
Communicating to the public is achievable in several ways; to help those who are and have been abused. The most influential parts in delivering the message of persuading individuals to recognize, report, and cease abuse is the message delivered and the audience intended to receive the message.
Combining the message with feelings of altruistic behavior is the key to a successful campaign. Messages delivered to society in numerous ways. Commercials are an informative way for the messages to reach the public. Not for profit companies can create messages that reach out to children asking them if “mommy and daddy” are mad at each other often talk to a teacher at school. The company’s mentioned can reach adolescents by displaying photographs of individuals who have been abused and ask them to report to a parent or teacher what he or she has seen. To reach victims by letting them know that it is not a normal way of life, there is hope of a stable fear free home.
There does not have to be a cost associated with these advertisements. Companies can ask radio stations, T.V. stations and billboard owners to display the ads between paying customers. This would allow the message to be broad casted and still allowing the owners to make money for their services.
By placing these advertisements in different areas (e.g. billboards, T.V. and radio commercials, emergency room fliers on the walls, school hallway fliers, and possibly speakers reaching out to today’s youth) will ensure that the message of a safe home. A place that a person can look forward to coming home to, and a place that a person would want to come home to. They do not have to be afraid in their own home and that there are people who care about them. These individuals care, not because it is their job, but because they want to see people enjoy the life they have.
By having the message delivered by unpaid spoken people, and numerous other entities providing the information free to the public will let society and those living with abuse know that it is not just individuals caring, but corporations as well. This will change societies view on corporations and invite them into the community, by letting everyone know they care. This could stimulate individuals to buy additional products from the companies and bond the community together to fight the battle against abuse. Even with this persuasive argument, domestic violence has implication.
Implication of Domestic Violence
The implied act of domestic violence is that the spouse of the abuser will be hurt, and if the family has children the children are likely be hurt also. Domestic Violence or Intimate Partner Violence includes four types of spousal abuse, psychological, sexual, physical, and property. To stop this cycle of abuse a plan of intervention and prevention needs to be taken. Social psychology can help as it is part of the ethical obligation to protect the participants and enhance human welfare, by discovering influences upon human behavior (Myers, 2010). The first step in a plan against domestic violence is intervention.
Intervention
Society already accepts elimination of abuse as an important goal, it is illegal in most states, but the problem still remains and is of epidemic proportions. Intervention can come from campaigning. Campaigning is a way for a person to become aware of situations in the world. People will easily stop a neighbor from playing loud music but not many will become involved when he or she hear arguing. Altruism predicts average behavior; conformity is more influential by the situation than by personality traits (Myers, 2010). If the world is to campaign against such violence with the bystander stepping in by ensuring that the violence is reported and the victim receives help (Cismaru, Jensen, & Lavack, 2010). Most reports of domestic violence come from bystanders; a bystander being in the area ensures that the violence is reported to the police. Most reports on domestic violence comes from a third party, making others aware of the importance of their role will help this rate steadily increase. Campaigns can come from small community level programs, to a nationwide advertisement. When more people take a stand against the abuse it will become the conformity and help the prevention of more acts of violence.
Prevention
Intervention normally occurs after the incident of domestic violence prevention can stop the incident from ever happening. Catharsis is way to cleanse or purge, this approach with domestic violence is for a child to vent his or her anger (Myers, 2010). Evidence show a child who is allowed to act out on his or her anger to purge the anger is will most likely be violent or aggressive with others. Social Learning can stop this aggressive behavior. One such prevention method is not to plant false unreachable goals in a person mind, and to reward cooperative, nonaggressive behavior. Children are just as affected by domestic violence as women are many homes that have women suffering from abuse, have children suffering as well (Damant et al., 2010). Children can become less aggressive if the caregiver ignores the aggressive behavior, and reinforces the nonaggressive behavior. Punishing aggression is showing another form of aggression that child may try to mimic. Children living Working on nonaggressive forms of punishment and not exposing children to television shows that have violence is way to stop the cycle of abuse.
Conclusion
In conclusion, no one desires or deserves to be a part of a domestic violence incident. The aggressive anger seen in physical assault from one individual to another describes a case of domestic violence. Domestic violence can wreck a household or relationship within seconds. These disturbing matters can lead to others damaging situations and need handling right away. People can help and stop horrible situation if they are observers of a domestic violence incident by calling their local law enforcement department. The person committing the assault can receive anger management therapies to work through his or her issues. That person will become a better person mentally and socially. As a society, the information about domestic violence should be a priority among the different cultures and communities. Helping out with incidents of domestic violence is the right of every citizen, of every race, and culture. According to Myers (2010), “Helping’s boost to self-worth explains why so many people feel good after doing well (p. 444).”
References
Burnett, L. B. ,. M. E. L. (2011). Domestic Violence. Medscape Reference. Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/805546-overview#showall
Cismaru, M., Jensen, G., & Lavack, A. M. (2010). IF THE NOISE COMING FROM NEXT DOOR WERE LOUD MUSIC, YOU'D DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Journal of Advertising, 39(4), 69-82. doi:10.2753/JOA0091-3367390405
Damant, D., Lapierre, S., Lebosse, C., Thibault, S., Lessard, G., Hamelin-Brabant, L., & ... Fortin, A. (2010). Women's abuse of their children in the context on domestic violence: reflection from women's accounts. Child & Family Social Work, 15(1), 12-21. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2009.00632.x
Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
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