Family Violence: A Canadian Introduction

Anna Leslie is an associate professor of sociology at Sir Wilfred
Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The central thesis of this book is that family violence in Canada exists
because it is tolerated and even fostered by social institutions.
Written from a sociological feminist perspective, Family Violence
examines the origins of family violence and discusses its various types,
including child abuse and elder abuse. Duffy and Momirov contend that
conditions arising from Canadian society make certain groups—namely
the poor, women, and Native people—especially susceptible to a culture
of violence. Moreover, capitalism and the predominant liberal democratic
philosophy are contributors to this “complex and elusive
phenomenon.”

The authors acknowledge the difficulty in defining and measuring family
violence. As power balances in society change, so too, they argue, will
the definitions. They suggest that because current measurements of
social relations tend to be veiled in the myth of the family, both
researchers and readers need to be cautious when reading reports about
family violence.

This clearly written and jargon-free book will be of particular
interest to students of sociology, women’s studies, and psychology.