Developing a critical theory of child abuse
Subtitle: a discussion of the  nature of child abuse as a manifestation of the social order
By: by  Marguerite Valentine.
Publisher: typescript
Published: 1989
Place of publication: [s.l.]
Language: eng
First sentence: This work addresses itself to the nature of child abuse in the family. Child abuse is now recognised as a social problem, whether one is considering physical abuse, emotional abuse where a child is deprived of love, care and attention, sexual abuse where the child is sexually used by by the adult to meet their own needs, or neglect, where there is persistent failure to meet the physical, emotional and intellectual needs of the child.
Description: The premise taken here is that in order to understand abuse, there must be an account of the individual's sense of being, as this relates to wider issues of the political economy. Thus this investigation uses the perspective of critical theory, since critical theory can incorporate an analysis of both structure and the experiential. It enables the researcher to shift perspective and to focus on different levels and aspects of being. Therefore, since child abuse is situated in the family, an analysis based on the perspectives of critical theory is used to examine family relationships. Three different facets of family life are explored: that of gender construction from the viewpoint of feminist psychoanalyis; the relationship between the social order and interpersonal behaviour from the perspective of Marx and radical feminism; and parental authority, drawing on the work of Laing. Derived from this exploration, the key concepts of patriarchy, alienation and mystification inform the direction of the empirical investigation.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Warwick, 1989.
Table of contents: value: Part One : Theoretical and Methodological Orientation; value: Part 11: An Examination of Famly Life and Child Abuse; value: Part 111: Children's Account of Family Life and the Experience of Abuse; value: Part 1v: Child Abuse as a Manifestation of the Social Order; value: Appendix A: Samples of Questions asked in Interviews; value: Appendix B: Interview with Andrea aged 13 years; value: Appendix C: Details about the Children Interviewed