Critical Review of Family Violence Theories
Jane A. Rodriguez # 660084749
SWK 450 Inside Family Violence
Professor Dale Shank L.M.S.W
October 1, 2012

Abstract
The theories that I have chosen for my paper are: race, class, and gender theory, and social learning theory. The race, class and gender theory is based on statistics on race such as the example that the book gives about African American men dying prematurely than their white counter parts (Hattery and Smith 2007). The fact is that there are more blue collar workers who are African American, and involved in physical labor. There is also more poverty, and lack of health care which can lead to more stress with the African American population. My paper will discuss the pros and cons of this theory. The second theory the Social Learning theory is a perspective that states that people learn within a social context. It is facilitated through concepts such as modeling and observational learning.

Critical Review of Family Violence Theories

In her now classic Black Feminist Thought (2000), Patricia Hill Collins put forth a comprehensive approach for understanding the intersections of race with gender, sexuality, and class in the lives of black women and men. Hill Collins explained that “oppression cannot be reduced to fundamental type, and that oppressions work together in producing injustice” (2000:18). In using this intersectional framework, she critiqued previous scholarship in which on dimension of inequality was assumed, a priori, to be foundational. Though inequality and diversity certainly exist among black women themselves, Hills Collins maintains that black women share important experiences that have helped foster the development of a group standpoint. These shared experiences stem from two aspects of racial diversity and certainly exist among black women themselves; Hill Collins maintains that black women share important experiences that have helped foster the development of a group standpoint. These shared experiences stem from two aspects of racial inequality in particular: their shared history of oppression and historical and present-day segregation. (Collins, 2000) Hill Collins notes that, unlike gender inequality, racial inequality has been maintained historically by “a politics of containment that places Black women in segregated housing, schools, and jobs designed to keep them on the economic bottom” (1998:210). Much like the Marxist version of standpoint theory, it is the concentration of black women in particular social settings that is thought to cultivate a collective consciousness and a shared standpoint. “Woman” as a group is not segregated in the same way. (Collins 2000)

Hill Collins writes. “Shared disadvantages and shared interest are not sufficient [for the development of group consciousness and group standpoints] separate modes of life that distinguish groups from one another remain important”(1998:217), emphasis in the original). Because women as a group are so widely dispersed, she suggest, standpoint theory might be better suited to black women then to women in general (1998:210). “US Black women’s similar work and family experiences as well as our participation in diverse expressions of African-American culture mean that overall, US Black women as a group live in a different world from that of people who are not Black and female” (2000:23) and many feminist scholars solely on gender. According to Belkher, long before the popularization of the Race, Gender and Class perspective, Marxist sociologists teaching social stratification were already adept practitioners. For example, the section of Marxist sociology of the American Sociological Association included its annual program a session on Class, Gender and Race. (Belkhir, 2001:1) Belkher believes that most sociologists do not take Marxism seriously and that theorist of gender and racial oppression have been, on the whole, hostile to Marxism’s alleged reductionisms. This is a country where class is not part of the common sense of understanding of the world and remains conspicuously absent from the vocabulary of politicians and most mass media pundits. She also believes that is this why the U.S. history of labor struggles, today people are more likely to understand their social and economic grievances in gender, racial, and ethnic terms, rather than in class terms, despite the fact that class is an ineradicable dimension of everybody’s lives. (Belkher, 2001:3)

I believe Hill Collins views are the most helpful for identifying the main elements of this approach: Race, gender and class are “distinctive yet interlocking structures of oppression” (Collins, 1993:26) This theory bring to light lots of questions on how black women are being treated in our society not only black women but women in general. There will always be a constant struggle for black women in our society. Social Learning theory is another major theory that has been used to explain both child abuse and elder abuse. It is based on the principal that children are socialized to behave in a particular ways by socializing agents such as parents, teachers, coaches, Scout leaders and that once behaviors are learned they are part of the individual’s behavior. ( Hattery, 2012:68) Social learning theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling. Among others Albert Bandura is considered the leading proponent of this theory. These are the general principles of the Social Learning Theory: 1. People can learn by observing the behavior is of others and the outcomes of those behaviors.
2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior. Behaviorists say that learning has to be represented by a permanent change in behavior; in contrast social learning theorists say that because people can learn through observation alone, their learning may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result in a behavior change.
3. Cognition plays a role in learning. Over the last 30 years social learning theory has become increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of human learning. Awareness and expectations of future reinforcements or punishments can have a major effect on the behaviors that people exhibit.
4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories. (Ormrod, 1999:1)
How the environment reinforces and punishes modeling:
People are often reinforced for modeling the behavior of others. Bandura suggested that the environment also reinforces modeling. This is in several possible ways:
1. The observer is reinforced by the model. For example a student who changes dress to fit in with a certain group of students has a strong likelihood of being accepted and thus reinforced by that group.
2. The observer is reinforced by a third person. The observer might be modeling the actions of someone else, for example, an outstanding class leader or student.
The teacher notices this and compliments and praises the observer for modeling such behavior thus reinforcing that behavior.
3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing consequences. Many behaviors that we learn from others produce satisfying or reinforcing results. For example, a student in my multimedia class could observe how the extra work a classmate does is fun. This student in turn would do the same extra work and also receive enjoyment.
4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the observer’s behavior vicariously. This is known as vicarious reinforcement. This is where in the model is reinforced for a response and then the observer shows an increase in that same response. Bandura illustrated this by having students watch a film of a model hitting an inflated clown doll. One group of children saw the model being praised for such action. Without being reinforced the group children also began to hit the doll. . (Ormrod, 1999:1)

[Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.](Bandura, 1977.) I have to agree with Bandura that most human behavior is learned because our children learn what we teach them. If they are abuser or even being abused it is because most of the time it was happening at home.
The second journal I chose was on Social Learning and alcohol behavior among the elderly. This research note reports on a test of social learning theory as an explanation of drinking and abstinence by older adults. Attention to alcohol behavior among the elderly tends to concentrate on alcohol abuse rather than the whole range of alcohol behavior and attempts on related drinking problems to the stresses and strains of growing old. The social learning explanation examined here is applied to the whole range of alcohol behavior-abstinence drinking, and high frequency/quantity of drinking among the elderly and does not require
Positing pathology or stress in old age. (Akers et al. 1989:626) As stated by Akers social learning theory proposes that behavior is acquired both through direct behavioral conditioning, differential reinforcement, and through imitation or modeling of others' behavior. People learn, in interaction (or identification) with significant groups in their lives, normative attitudes toward certain behavior (as good or bad, right or wrong), here termed definitions. The more individuals define the behavior positively or as justified (“neutralizing" d definitions), the more likely they will engage in it. The process whereby one interacts with others and is exposed to positive or negative norms is labeled differential association. (Akers et al. 1989:626)
It occurs most importantly with the primary group so family and friendship, but also with work groups, schools, churches, community organizations, and other secondary groups. The theory proposes, then, that abstinence or drinking and the pattern of drinking that develops result from greater rewarding consequences, on balance, than aversive contingencies for that behavior (both social consequences and the effects of the alcohol). (Akers et al. 1989:626)Drinking can be a learned behavior and can lead to many other abusive behavior in an individual.
The Social Learning process is an ongoing one with feedback effects. Indeed, the very concept and measures of reinforcement refer to behavior occurring, producing, or meeting with some consequences reoccurring. Social Learning theory also recognizes that one’s patterns of associations and one’s attitudes toward some behavior may be affected by engaging in the behavior and experiencing the consequences. (Akers et al. 1989:634)

Reflection In researching about the Race, Class and Gender Theory, I feel like the topic I talked about covered all three issues on a whole. I learned that being black and a female can affect the money that you make and the types of jobs that are available for this particular race and gender. I learned that are many obstacles that can get in the way and can eventually lead to a life less fortunate than others. Not making enough money can cause the person to lead a life of crime just to make ends meet. Money can become a source of stress and conflict in families. It can cause stress in a marriage and maybe cause the individual to turn to drinking which in can lead to physical abuse or emotional abuse. Growing up in poverty and not being able to find a way out can cause a vicious cycle that can be passed on from generation to generation. In terms of family violence, the race, class, and gender paradigm allows us to better understand the fact that African American children are at higher risk for experiencing child abuse, including single-parent families and poor families as well as because they are seven times more likely to be placed in foster care, where there is a higher chance they will be at risk for child abuse. (Hattery, 2012:8)
The Social Learning Theory helped me to better understand that sometimes certain behaviors and actions are learned. This theory is popular because it is intuitive and useful in explaining the high probability of intergenerational patterns of abuse. The cons of this theory is that it suffers from additional weaknesses as well as the tendency to paint abusers as “bad people” rather than understanding the structural and individual forces that shape their behavior, which I found to be very interesting. If they suffered abuse in their past they usually turn out to be abusers to. It does not lessen the impact of their abusive behavior, but it provides clues on how it came about. (Hattery, 2012:69)
Both of these theories give a better understanding on family violence. There are so many theories on this subject. The two that I chose are only a few reasons why we suffer family violence in our society today. In my eyes both theories are equally rated, I did not favor one more than the other. Both theories are very informative and will be very helpful to me in my journey to becoming a professional Social Worker.

References

Akers, Ronald L. & La Greca, Anthony J. & Cochran, John. & Sellers, Christine. (1989). Social Learning Theory and Alcohol Behavior among the elderly. Florida: JAI Press Inc. The Sociological Quarterly, Volume 30, Number 4, pages 625-638.

Belkhir Jean, Race, Gender and Class, special issue on Marxism. Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 23-33.

Collins Hill Patricia (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: UnwinHyman, 1990, pp. 221-238.

Hattery, Angela & Smith, Earl (2012). The Social Dynamics of Family Violence. Colorado: Westview Press.
Ormrod, JE. (1999). Human Learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.