Robert Gelles' principal aim in Intimate Violence in Families is to clarify the extent and nature of such violence in the light of the most recent studies and to suggest prevention and treatment measures to deal with it. The volume is designed as an advanced textbook (with topics for discussion and recommended supplementary assignments) but also functions as a summary statement of the present state of the field and of Gelles' own view of causes, effects, and possible responses. Gelles begins by deconstructing popular myths and misconceptions surrounding familial violence. He reviews the history of the field and assesses current attitudes toward the problem. Gelles then discusses the two most common types of violence--against children and women--in some detail and includes a chapter on "hidden victims." Gelles demonstrates that these hidden types of violence (e.g., between siblings, against the elderly, among gay partners) expand the level of intimate violence considerably and merit far more attention than they have usually received. Gelles then discusses theories that explain familial violence and offers his integrated approach to family violence, an exchange/social control theory, and links it to a number of preventive approaches and treatment measures. Gelles' thesis is that people will engage in violence so long as the costs do not outweigh the perceived benefits, and that a society that implicitly and explicitly approves of some forms of intimate violence will produce higher levels of such activity.
Gelles focuses on physical violence while acknowledging its connection with other forms of abuse. Family members impose numerous types of harm on each other--including emotional and psychological violence, neglect, sexual abuse, and other types of coercion and victimization. But, Gelles argues, "although physical violence shares with other harm-producing acts the central characteristics of malevolence and harm-doing intent...