Sociological Study of Domestic Violence against Women (Case Study: City of Ilam)

  Domestic violence is observed in all societies, in all social groups and classes, and numerous reports have confirmed that it is a problem in Iran. Some sociologists have tried to explain such a situation from the perspective of gender socialization, and some have considered it as a product of the patriarchal system and oppression against women. Some people consider problematizing of this problem to be more due to the perception and understanding of the society and important social groups. Therefore, knowing the quality and quantity of the problem, requires conducting research from the perspective of the people involved in that problematized situation.However, the necessity of conducting this research consists of the following: First, the social researches of the last few decades in Iran regarding the phenomenon of domestic violence have mainly been conducted with quantitative approaches, and this research has been conducted with a qualitative approach based on the grounded theory method, which is an appropriate method. Second, presenting a local analysis of the phenomenon of domestic violence from the perspective of the women themselves who have experienced violence. Meanwhile, the purpose of this research is to know how women understand the conditions, contexts, and consequences of domestic violence in their lives.

The research is qualitative and based on the method of grounded theory. Respondents were selected using purposive sampling method with the criterion of theoretical saturation among violent married women who referred to positive life centers of the Behzisti Organization in Ilam. The Acceptance criteria were used for accreditation and reliability was achieved through auditing method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 30 of the battered married women and coding were performed using Nvivo12 software.

In the data analysis and in the process of open coding, 288 meaningful statements and 160 primary concepts were obtained, by combining the concepts, 48 subcategories and 21 main categories were extracted, and by using the categories derived from the research, and by discovering lied meanings. In the interviews, the results have been analyzed and presented based on the paradigm model.Findings indicate the role of family factors such as stressful interaction, status imbalance; Social factors such as carnival-like encounters with marriage; Cultural factors such as patriarchal perceptions. Women's reactions have been largely passive, and the consequences have been the normalization of the role of passive victim for women.

Comparing the research findings with the theories of thinkers containing similarities and convergences, including in areas such as: "violence as a learned thing" and "learned helplessness of women causing women's passive reactions" (social learning theory), "violence against women is a product of long traditions The domain of male domination and patriarchy" (feminist perspective), "violence as a consequence of ignoring and justifying violence against women" (theory of condescending attitudes) and also the theory of the integrated ecological model are in theoretical comparison. In the selective coding of this research, it has led to the selection of two core research categories, which means that in the first degree.Domestic violence against women is the product of women's experienced helplessness, which, in conjunction with the second core category, which is patriarchal ideas, and the combination and convergence of these two, leads to the establishment, stabilization, reproduction and continuation of a subculture of domestic violence against women, and passive reactions. Against this, women help the normalization process of this particular kind of abnormality.In other words, this special type of "learned helplessness" as well as normalizing the role of "passive victim" for women, is pregnant with the mechanisms that foster semantic justifications and prepare cultural bases for the acceptance of domestic violence against women, and it deepens ideological justifications charged with the components of patriarchal culture. It helps in the studied society.The final result of this process can be analyzed under the core category of the research entitled "Domestic violence against women is a product of the combination of women's experienced helplessness and patriarchal ideas", which is the result of family management in the context of preserving the functions of patriarchal tradition along with the structural transmission of violence in It is a cultural mechanism based on gender socialization. In other words, domestic violence is the result of family management in the context of preserving the functions of the patriarchal tradition, along with the structural transmission of violence in the cultural mechanism and based on gender socialization, which fosters forms of subculture of violence that have extensive negative consequences for women, their children and society.