For Brainstorming
The Phenomenology of Family Violence
Jane F. GilgunUniversity of Minnesota, Twin CitiesRunning head: Phenomenology10,200 wordsJane F. Gilgun, Ph.D., is associate professor, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota,224 Church Street, S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455. Phone: 612/624-0082; fax: 612-626-0395;email:gilgun@umn.edu. See Professor Gilgun’s books, articles, and children’s stories onAmazon Kindle, stores.lulu.com/jgilgun, & scribd.com/professorjane. Paper presented for aBrainstorming Session at the 1996 National Council on Family Relations Pre-Conference TheoryConstruction and Research Methodology Workshop, Kansas City, MO, November 5, 1996.
Phenomenology2
For BrainstormingThe Phenomenology of Family Violence
In this brainstorming session, I am looking for insight and direction from Workshop participants.In the next year or so, I plan to prepare a book proposal on the phenomenologyof violence, and this brainstorming paper is the beginning of my attempt to put into words whatI'd like to write about. I have many questions to deal with as I think about planning a book. Inthis post-modern era, I'm confronted with what I experience as a chaotic array of choices. I don'twant to spend a lot of time and thought on a book that is outmoded as soon as it's published. Onthe other hand, my main goal is to present to interested audiences how persons who commitviolent acts experience these acts while they are committing them.
General Areas on Which I'd Like Feedback
For this brainstorming session, I would like feedback on four main areas:• Does my presentation of the dimensions of violence in this paper make sense?My presentation is unpolished, but does it make sense to first present the dimensions and thenshow how they appear in an individual life?• I often have been deeply unnerved by these subjective dimensions of violence.These leads to two questions for me:
How do I handle my own reactivity/subjectivity/reflexivity in this book?Do I talk directly and in the first person about my own reactions?
How can I present this difficult material so that other people can bear toread it? I'm afraid potential audiences will be unnerved and not read the book.• Should I illustrate a variety of ways of analyzing the material, such as throughusing analytic induction in one chapter, grounded theory in another, semiotic/discourse analysisin another, life histories in another? This would be in the spirit of post-modernism.• How do I present material that I myself do not understand? Phenomenologicalresearchers emphasize shared meanings. As Wax (1971) said, "Understanding...
is a precondition to research
" (p. 13) (italics in the text). Yet, there are some aspects of the phenomenology of violence as my informants present them to me that I simply cannot connectto. I don't get it. However, I want to present material I don't understand, not only because othersmight understand it, but such material could demonstrate how difficult violence is to understand.In this brainstorming paper, I will address each of these topics sequentially, beginningwith the dimensions of violence. The following sections are illustrations only; they are notfinished, polished products.
Phenomenology3
THE DIMENSIONS OF VIOLENCE
I've identified several dimensions of violence through 10 years of in-depth life history, phenomenological interviewing of about 65 persons, mostly men and most of whom havecommitted violent acts. The average number of interviews is about 12, but ranges from one toabout 30. Not only do I do life histories in domains such as family history and relationships,history of peer relationships, relationships with extended family and persons in communitysettings such as schools and neighborhoods, sexual development, and history of violent behaviors, but I obtain detailed accounts of violent acts they've committed. A thorough presentation of my method is in Gilgun (in press).In discussing the phenomenological dimensions of violence, I am using the followingapproaches:• First, I presented the categories of the dimensions of violence and illustrated thesedimensions with quotes that show that aspects of the experience of violence can be categorizedas I have categorized them;• Then, I illustrated how most if not all of these dimensions of violence play themselvesout in one individual case. I boldface and italicize the terms designating the categories each timeI use them;• Finally, I tried to show that these dimensions are present in popular literature, such ascontemporary murder mysteries, trade books, and in some newspaper articles. I've found it muchharder to identify scholarly sources that look at the subjective dimensions of violence.I'd like feedback on
Does the method of presenting the categories and then the case studieswork?
Does the use of popular writings enhance understanding of the subjectivedimensions of violence?'
Presenting Dimensions of Violence
Through 10 years of interviewing persons who have acted in violent ways, I havediscovered that violence as experienced by perpetrators has several dimensions: gratification,vengeance, entitlement, proving you've got guts, expediency, self-protection, and protectingothers. Interlacing each of these dimensions is the experience of having power over others,which, for those who are violent, usually is gratifying and sometimes exhilarating. Being able tocontrol others is part of some but not all of these dimensions, and perpetrators often experiencecontrol as gratifying and exhilarating as well. Sometimes persons who are committing violentacts experience fear as well, which they attempt to overcome in order to achieve whatinstrumental and/or affective end they are seeking through their acts of violence.
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Chills, Thrills, Power, Control: The Phenomenology of Family Violence
Chills, thrills, power, control, gratification, vengeance, entitlement, proving you've got guts, expediency, self-protection, and protecting others are just some of the meanings of violence to perpetrators..
Interlacing each of these dimensions is the experience of having… (More)
Interlacing each of these dimensions is the experience of having… (More)
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