the background of Weber's theory of the connection between rationalism and capitalistic society.
There is also the question of conflict, and it is here that the theoretical tension of bureaucracy and the rational social structure highlights child abuse as a social problem. Turner explains the core of Weber's view of power in society:
[W]hen economic elites, for example, are also social and political elites, and vice versa, then those who are excluded from power, wealth, and prestige become resentful and receptive to conflict alternatives.
Another condition is dramatic discontinuity in the distribution of rewards, or the existence of divisions in social hierarchies that give privilege to some and very little to others. When only a few hold power, wealth, and prestige and the rest are denied those rewards, then tensions and resentments exist. Such resentments become a further inducement for those without power, prestige, and wealth to engage in conflict with those who hoard these resources.
A final condition encouraging conflict is low rates of social mobility. When those of low rank have little chance to move up social hierarchies or to enter a new class, party, or status group, then resentment accumulates (Turner, 1991, p. 197).
A child who experiences abuse can be said to hoard valuable resources, unless that resource is interpreted as a positive attitude toward society. Further, the experience of the denial of social and material prestige may have an effect on the abuser. Margolin (413ff) cites Weber's bureaucratic model for the overrationalized society in a study of physical abuse of children by male (as opposed to female) heads of household. The principal thread of argument is that the culture of violence in general and power relationships in particular, overbalanced in favor of men in American society, aggravate the fact that males are not rewarded and are not socialized to provide or manifest nurturing actions. T...