9 research outputs found
The race relations âProblematicâ in American sociology: Revisiting Niemonenâs case study and critique
Editorial Life at a Small Regional Journal: Simultaneously at the Margins and in the Thick of Things
An economic exclusion/male peer support model looks at 'wedfare' and woman abuse
In recent years ââwelfare reformââ has become a vehicle for many neo-conservative social commentators to invoke marriage vows as a cure for poverty and the abuse of poor women. Their basic claim is that cohabiting relationships are not only more violent than marriages, but that married couples are happier, healthier, and wealthier than cohabiting ones. A policy then of encouraging cohabitants to marry, they claim, would lead to increased family wealth and decreased family violence. We examine these claims in this article, along with the alternative argument that marriage per se is not a solution to these problems. Alternatively we propose an economic exclusion/male peer support model that explains why many cohabiting men abuse women in intimate relationships. If forcing these couples to marry is not a solution, then structural solutions are necessary, along with progressive policy suggestions that address the antecedents of poverty and abuse