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Failed Femicides Among Migrant Survivors
Abstract
Femicide-the killing of a female because of her gender-is becoming an increased object of sociological enquiry, rectifying years of invisibility. The article presents results from ethnographic interviews with three migrant women who survived “failed femicides.” A “failed femicide” is defined as an attempted femicide where the medical examination of the victim confirmed a life-threatening event, the victim had been hospitalized in emergency, and she or the perpetrator had described the event as an attempted murder. It is argued that failed femicides should be added to the growing literature on domestic violence, on the one hand, and femicide, on the other. The article presents narratives from three survivors of failed femicide attempts among Ethiopian female migrants in Israel. They present an interesting contrast to large-scale, quantitative, ethnocentric, male-oriented studies of femicide focusing on Western women. Since few women actually survive femicide attempts, the nature of the small sample should not deter the scholar from the depth of migrant women’s plights. The survivor narratives were analyzed by means of thematic analysis. The analysis produced five key categories: village society in Ethiopia; cycle of domestic violence; motive; weapon; and recourse to authorities. The themes provided understanding into these migrant women’s subjective experiences and the ways they understood events. While no generalizations can be made, the article may encourage comparisons with other failed femicide survivor narratives from other migrant women originating and residing in different settings. With the increase of migrants the world over, non-Western survivor narratives may become an increasingly important tool for policy-makers and for academics to understand how femicides occur, how migrant women perceive them, and how they can be combated.
... Defined as the intentional killing of a current or former partner (Kivisto, 2015), intimate partner homicide (IPH) has been identified as the primary type of homicide among female victims globally (UNODC, 2019), accounting for at least 38.6% of all female homicide cases (Stöckl et al., 2013). While the issue of IPH has gained increasing focus, research that specifically explore the experiences of women who have survived an attempted IPH is limited (Weil, 2016). This limited body of scholarship is marked by significant variability on fundamental issues, such as the terminology and definitions related to attempted IPH survivorship. ...
... These nuanced differences make it challenging for scholars to approach the topic as a unified field of study, thereby contributing to the overall scarcity of research in the area. For example, attempted IPH has been termed as "failed femicide," "attempted femicide," "near-lethal violence," "attempted homicide against women," and "attempted intimate partner homicide" (Abrunhosa et al., 2021, Cantor et al., 2022, Johnson & Zitzmann, 2020, Meyer, 2022, Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2012, Weil, 2016. Similarly, different studies have used various definitions to determine whether a person is an attempted IPH survivor, including subjective (Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2012), legal (Farr, 2002, Nicolaidis et al., 2003, and medical definitions (Weil, 2016). ...
... For example, attempted IPH has been termed as "failed femicide," "attempted femicide," "near-lethal violence," "attempted homicide against women," and "attempted intimate partner homicide" (Abrunhosa et al., 2021, Cantor et al., 2022, Johnson & Zitzmann, 2020, Meyer, 2022, Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2012, Weil, 2016. Similarly, different studies have used various definitions to determine whether a person is an attempted IPH survivor, including subjective (Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2012), legal (Farr, 2002, Nicolaidis et al., 2003, and medical definitions (Weil, 2016). Moreover, while most studies have focused on the circumstances and relationship dynamics preceding attempted IPH (Harden et al., 2019, Nicolaidis et al., 2003, Santucci, 2021, there is a lack of detailed information about the outcomes of these incidents. ...
Purpose
Studies focusing specifically on the experiences of women who have survived intimate partner homicide (IPH) remain scarce, even as research attention to IPH has significantly increased. Within this limited scholarship, significant attention is given to the circumstances and dynamics of the relationship preceding the IPH episode, with little understanding of how the abusive relationship may evolve following the attempted IPH once the couple has already separated. Using the Assault on Basic Needs framework, the current study aimed to address this gap by exploring attempted IPH survivors’ perceptions of their post-separation relationship with their ex-partners, focusing on the abuse tactics employed by the perpetrators.
Methods
Participants were attempted IPH survivors who had publicly shared their stories, and were recruited through social media. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis methodology was utilized to conduct semi-structured interviews with 12 participants, all women who had survived an attempted IPH.
Results
The participants’ narratives uncovered three primary tactics used to sustain the abuse: (1) Post-separation relationship maintained through communication channels, (2) Abuse through the legal system, and (3) Abuse through intermediaries.
Conclusion
The findings suggest that even after separation or incarceration, abuse may persist, requiring survivors of attempted homicide to receive additional support and protection on their path to safety and healing.
... However, the literature continues to use a variety of names and definitions to describe the phenomenon. Names include, inter alia, attempted IPH survivors, failed femicide, and near-lethal violence (Johnson & Zitzmann, 2020;Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2013;Weil, 2016). Definitions include: a subjective definition relying on the survivor's perception of whether or not her life was in danger during the violent attack (Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2013); a legal definition drawing on police records that classified the event as an "attempted homicide" (Farr, 2002;Nicolaidis et al., 2003); and a medical definition relying on health records showing that the injuries sustained by the survivor were life threatening (Weil, 2016). ...
... Names include, inter alia, attempted IPH survivors, failed femicide, and near-lethal violence (Johnson & Zitzmann, 2020;Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2013;Weil, 2016). Definitions include: a subjective definition relying on the survivor's perception of whether or not her life was in danger during the violent attack (Vatnar & Bjørkly, 2013); a legal definition drawing on police records that classified the event as an "attempted homicide" (Farr, 2002;Nicolaidis et al., 2003); and a medical definition relying on health records showing that the injuries sustained by the survivor were life threatening (Weil, 2016). ...
... For example, some researchers viewed studies on IPH survivors as an analog for studying lethal violence because they provide the rare opportunity to hear stories that most of the victims are not alive to tell (McPhedran et al., 2018). These studies focused primarily on understanding the dynamics that led to the violent incident (Harden et al., 2019;Nicolaidis et al., 2003;Santucci, 2021;Weil, 2016). Other studies tended to focus less on the past and centered on the experiences of women who survived the homicide attempt, including the subsequent changes in their lives, their experiences with medical and law enforcement personnel, and their financial and residential issues (Azevedo & Dutra, 2015;Farr, 2002;Thomas et al., 2014). ...
While the issue of intimate partner homicide (IPH) has gained increasing focus, research that pinpoints the experiences of women who survived an attempted IPH is limited. Specifically, studies that aim to understand the aftermath of surviving such incidents are scarce. Thus, the aim of the present study was to explore the emotional experience of IPH survivors following the attack. An interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the narratives of 11 women who had survived an attempted homicide by their partner. Four major themes emerged: Living between dichotomies: A fragmented identity; Embodied fear: A fear that will not go away; The loss of future: A life divided; and The loneliness of surviving the “unsurvivable.” Utilizing the ambiguous loss theory to examine the emotional ramifications of IPH indicates that survivors navigate persistent confusion and struggle to comprehend the loss. This involves challenges in moving forward and achieving resolution, conflicting emotions related to the loss, minimal recognition of the grief, and limited support from the social environment.
... Unique sociodemographic characteristics were found in Israel with regard to perpetrator ethnic and socioeconomic status: While Western study findings point to predominantly White Caucasian perpetrators, representing their distribution in theses societies (Flynn et al., 2009;Lund & Smorodinky, 2001;Morton et al., 1998), a different ethnic distribution was noted in Israel, with underrepresentation of the Arab population, and about a third of the perpetrators belonging to the minority of Ethiopian immigrant Jews that is overrepresented compared to its 2% share in the total population. The Ethiopian overrepresentation in fatal gender-based violence corroborates previous findings regarding their overrepresentation in femicide (Edelstein, 2011;Sela-Shayovitz, 2010;Weil, 2016). Thus, the current study findings appear to corroborate patterns noted in non-Western societies, such as Fiji and South Africa, with reported overrepresentation of ethnic minority populations in femicide-suicide cases (Adinkrah, 2003;Mathews et al., 2008;Roberts et al., 2010). ...
... Therefore, other sociocultural factors most likely contribute to overrepresentation of a certain ethnic minority in femicide-suicide, in this case Ethiopian immigrant Jews. Geiger (2013), Sela-Shayovitz (2010), and Weil (2016) link the overrepresentation of the Ethiopian immigrant minority with regard to femicide in general, and femicide-suicide in particular, to strain theories related to immigration. In this respect, it is noteworthy that overrepresentation of immigrant populations in femicide-suicide was also noted by Wallace (1986) in her study in New South Wales. ...
... In this respect, it is noteworthy that overrepresentation of immigrant populations in femicide-suicide was also noted by Wallace (1986) in her study in New South Wales. In attempting to explain the strains that Ethiopian immigrants Jews faced, and continue to face, scholars refer to the major cultural gap they had to bridge to assimilate into Israeli society (Geiger, 2013;Landau & Hattis-Rolef, 1998;Sela-Shayovitz, 2010;Weil, 2016). According to Geiger (2013), the disintegration of traditional norms and social mechanisms that followed the Ethiopian Jews' efforts to become part of the dominant Israeli culture may have contributed to the high rates of lethal domestic violence in the Ethiopian community in Israel. ...
Among persons who commit murder a certain percentage also commits suicide soon after, a phenomenon known as homicide-suicide. Previous studies indicate that femicide-suicide (female intimate partner homicide-suicides) accounts for the vast majority of homicide-suicide occurrences. Although the femicide-suicide phenomenon cuts across regions and societies, there is a dearth of studies of femicide-suicide patterns, motives, and characteristics among non-Western populations. A review of the few available findings about femicide-suicide in non-Western societies highlights the need for further study and corroboration of the distribution and characteristics of femicide-suicide in non-Western societies. The unique manifestations of the phenomenon among immigrant, ethnic, and social minority groups are of great relevance to Western societies currently facing the challenge of assimilating a growing number of ethnic minorities and immigrant social groups. The study aims to further our understanding of possible sociocultural variations of femicide-suicide by exploring sociodemographic and criminological patterns among non-Western social groups. It presents an analysis of national empirical findings of femicide-suicide across various ethnic and sociocultural groups in Israel in the years 2005-2015, excluding analysis of cases that occurred in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The characteristics and patterns that are the focus of this study include a sociocultural ethnic profile of the perpetrator, and various criminological characteristics such as homicide and suicide location, homicide and suicide method, and homicide motive. Femicide-suicide events, victims, and perpetrators were compared by calculating frequency distributions and population-based incidence rates. The findings suggest that the distribution of the phenomenon and its criminological characteristics vary across immigrant and ethnic minority groups. Further research is needed to validate the study’s empirical observations and to explore the various manifestations of the phenomenon across non-Western ethnic, social, religious, and cultural groups.
... Immigration was found to be a risk factor for both femicide and femicide-suicide owing to the multiple challenges and pressures faced by immigrants (Dayan, 2018;Edelstein, 2011;Landau & Rolef, 1998;Sela-Shayovitz, 2010;Weil, 2016). A recent study conducted in Israel found higher femicide-suicide rates among immigrants and minority groups, specifically among Ethiopian immigrants (Dayan, 2018). ...
... Previous studies showed higher femicide rates among immigrants from the FSU and Ethiopia compared to Israeli-native citizens (Dayan, 2018;Edelstein, 2011;Landau & Rolef, 1998;Sela-Shayovitz, 2010;Weil, 2016). Although this phenomenon has received extensive public attention, and has been accompanied by policy responses, femicide rates among immigrants in Israel have not declined over the past three decades. ...
Homicide-suicide is a violent crime primarily committed within intimate relationships. Although increasing attention is being paid to femicide-suicide, there is limited comparative evidence about this crime. This article examines the differences and similarities in offender and victim characteristics between two types of femicide, femicide-suicide and femicide, among various social groups in Israel. The sample comprised all incidents of femicide and femicide-suicide (145) between 2005 and 2015. The analysis indicates that immigration plays a key role in both femicide and femicide-suicide. Femicide-suicide rates were significantly higher among immigrants than among Israeli-native Jews and Arabs. A significant relationship was found between femicide type and the method used to commit the crime: the likelihood that a firearm was used in femicide-suicide cases was 11.08 times higher than in femicide cases. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and suggests prevention strategies.
... Emphasis will also be placed on qualitative data (Weil, 2017;Weil and Kouta, 2017), which has been given insufficient attention to date by other observatories, NGOs and national institutions. Narratives of 'failed femicides' (Weil, 2016) may be of particular use in studying migrants in Europe and understanding cultural patterns. Liaison with a broad community of established organizations already engaged in the topic was started through a round table meeting with stakeholders held in Brussels in 2015 as part of the Action. ...
... Academic articles on femicide in Israel have identified killings among particular ethnic groups, such as Ethiopian immigrants (Weil, 2016), Russian immigrants under the influence of alcohol (Sela-Shayovitz, 2010a) or Arab/Palestinian populations (Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Daher-Nashif, 2013) among whom the authors attribute 'honour killings' to the Occupation; intimate partner femicide, often committed with a firearm, significantly increased among immigrants during the Second Intifada (Sela-Shayovitz, 2010b). In addition, 10% of all femicides have been perpetrated among elderly women over the age of 60 in the past decade (Weil, 2017). ...
... Nudelman et al's (2017) research also explores several important factors that contribute to this risk in terms of the host state's attitude towards migrant women, any language or legal barriers in the host country, pressure from the women's local community in the host country and the women's access to support resources. Weil (2016), too, reports incidents where migrant women were forced to marry or were abducted by their husbands and suffered severe domestic violence in both their native and host countries, in her research on 'failed femicides'. Male control over women's lives, bodies and sexuality is strengthened by 'culturalization', because, as Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Daher-Nashif note, it is males who act within a patriarchal structure, who plan, implement and turn a blind eye to women's needs, who silence abuse, who fail to address women's calls for help and who are able to stop the killing (Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Daher-Nashif, 2013: 18). ...
... Emphasis will also be placed on qualitative data (Weil, 2017;Weil and Kouta, 2017), which has been given insufficient attention to date by other observatories, NGOs and national institutions. Narratives of 'failed femicides' (Weil, 2016) may be of particular use in studying migrants in Europe and understanding cultural patterns. Liaison with a broad community of established organizations already engaged in the topic was started through a round table meeting with stakeholders held in Brussels in 2015 as part of the Action. ...
... Nudelman et al's (2017) research also explores several important factors that contribute to this risk in terms of the host state's attitude towards migrant women, any language or legal barriers in the host country, pressure from the women's local community in the host country and the women's access to support resources. Weil (2016), too, reports incidents where migrant women were forced to marry or were abducted by their husbands and suffered severe domestic violence in both their native and host countries, in her research on 'failed femicides'. Male control over women's lives, bodies and sexuality is strengthened by 'culturalization', because, as Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Daher-Nashif note, it is males who act within a patriarchal structure, who plan, implement and turn a blind eye to women's needs, who silence abuse, who fail to address women's calls for help and who are able to stop the killing (Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Daher-Nashif, 2013: 18). ...
... Previous studies have attempted to understand the demographic characteristics of femicide perpetrators, but little work has focused on understanding the drivers of femicide perpetration (Campbell et al., 2008, p. 511;Dobash & Dobash, 2017, p. 135;World Health Organization, 2012). Few small scale attempts to measure attempted femicide exist, although to our knowledge this is the first work that utilizes a qualitative open-ended approach that is singularly focused on completed intimate femicide (Weil, 2016). Multivariate analyses examining risk factors for men ever perpetrating IPV indicate that witnessing parental violence is one the strongest risk factors for perpetration of IPV, supporting previous work which suggests transmission of violence across generations (Fleming, Mccleary-Sills, et al., 2015, p. 11). ...
Intimate femicide perpetrators are rarely studied despite their important role as drivers of violence. This paper analyzes the explanatory narratives of men who intentionally killed their female intimate partners in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty-four interviews were conducted with 12 participants. Data were analyzed using Atlas.Ti and an inductive thematic coding strategy. Two dimensions-frequency of physical violence in the relationship and locus of explanation-were used to identify four narrative archetypes: victim, redemption, extraordinary, and outburst. Greater attention should be paid to perpetrator life trajectories and narratives including the gender and violence discourses that shape explanations for perpetration.
... Academic articles on femicide in Israel have identified killings among particular ethnic groups, such as Ethiopian immigrants and the particular narratives of survivors of 'failed femicides' (Weil, 2016b); Russian immigrants under the influence of alcohol (Sela-Shayovitz, 2010a), and; Arab/ Palestinian populations (Shalhoub-Kervorkian & Daher-Nashif, 2013). Sela-Shayovitz has shown that femicides, often committed with a firearm, significantly increased during periods of war-like conflict and specifically among immigrants holding firearms during the Second Intifada (Sela-Shayovitz, 2010b). ...
This study of femicide involving elderly women, or female geronticide, aims to fill a gap in the research literature. The article is divided into three parts: a review of the literature on femicide, geronticide, and specifically female geronticide; a review of the literature utilizing Israel as a case-study and an empirical report on the findings of the first longitudinal study on female geronticide in Israel, which demonstrates that over a period of 10 years (2006–2015) female geronticide was perpetrated solely by intimate male partners. Findings of the study also show post hoc that while femicide is perpetrated in disproportionate numbers by, and towards, members of particular ethnic categories, such as Ethiopian immigrants and foreign migrants, there were no cases of female geronticide in these two groups. The likelihood of an elderly woman being murdered by her intimate partner or family member was higher among the following groups in the following order: immigrants from the former Soviet Union; Israeli-born Jews and; Israeli Arabs. The findings are important for policy-makers in Israel but have applications globally.
... Few small scale attempts to measure attempted femicide exist, although to our knowledge this is the first work that utilizes a qualitative open-ended approach that is singularly focused on completed intimate femicide (Weil, 2016). Multivariate analyses examining risk factors for men ever perpetrating IPV indicate that witnessing parental violence is one the strongest risk factors for perpetration of IPV, supporting previous work which suggests transmission of violence across generations (Fleming & McCleary-Sills et al., 2015, p. 11). ...
BACKGROUND: Social and Health Sciences focused on violence have traditionally emphasised the analysis of victims. Extensive academic research has broadened the knowledge about features and processes at the micro, meso and macro levels of gender-based violence. Nonetheless, a central paradox in this field is that the meanings and biographies of performers of violence are rarely studied directly, despite the fact that this is central to understand the phenomenon. More attention has been given to quantitative approaches, either enquiring about contextual aspects or individual-level variables. As a consequence, the specific ways in which global variables interact with life courses are widely unknown. In the context of a broader socio-anthropological project on homicide and violence, the objective of this paper is to analyse, from a hermeneutic approach, the life stories of men who have intentionally killed women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The underlying methodological purpose is to explore the usefulness of the biographical approach in the analysis of perpetrators of violence in general, and femicide in particular.
METHODOLOGY: A qualitative approach was adopted, following a biographical hermeneutic methodology. In-depth narrative interviews with young men (20-32 years old) who committed femicide. Interviews were conducted in three types of situations: with incarcerated men, with men who had finished their sentences, and with men whose judicial status was not yet defined. A purposeful sample strategy was employed, due to the difficulties of conducting fieldwork with this population. 12 cases were re-constructed from a total of 34 interviews. Two techniques were used to analyse the corpus: a) story line construction (respecting the specificity of each case’s trajectory according to his own narration), and b) thematic analysis (comparing cases, identifying common topics or themes, and synthesising common discursive and biographical aspects).
RESULTS: Firstly, the reconstruction of the life stories allowed an in-depth analysis of each case’s particularities. Amongst other turning-points in their lives, these men conveyed significant meaning to: a) common childhood or teenage experiences with different forms of violence; b) early-age learning process in which male-chauvinist values were socialised; c) learning processes of violence, either among peers or within the family; d) biographical turning-points where death and/or physical, psychological or institutional abuse was present. Secondly, the thematic analysis showed: a) common belief that there was “no other option, but violence”; d) a link in their narratives between moral definitions of manhood, strength, honour and possession of women; c) decision-making process as a core aspect disputed during confrontations with women; d) a simultaneous absence and avoidance of public and private institutions (hospitals, social programs, education establishments, etc.) that could mediate the conflicts. Four ideal types were constructed to synthesise the narratives of explanation of the femicide: victim, redemption, extraordinary and outburst narratives. Two dimensions were analysed to construct the types: the frequency of intimate partner violence throughout the relationship(s) and the locus of the explanation (individual or contextual).
CONCLUSIONS: The empirical findings of this study coincide with other studies regarding the underlying moral pattern that explains gender-based violence. Violence, women and masculinity are not homogeneously defined by perpetrators, yet similar moral understandings can be observed. Furthermore, the life stories suggest that femicide could be further understood by the analysis of how socialisation processes, turning-points and early-age abuse intertwine.
The main methodological conclusion of this paper is that more attention should be paid to life trajectories and narratives of perpetrators, and how this data is gathered. This line of enquiry provides in-depth information of specific socio-cultural and institutional processes that condition violence against women in general, and femicide as a specific phenomenon. Special attention must be paid to mainstream discourses that shape the narratives (namely gender equality and intimate partner violence debates, amongst others). Social and prevention programs must consider how the specific gender representations influence violent actions and conflicts in each cultural context.
... That type of crime is much less common than the killing of an intimate partner, as the studies conducted by Liem and colleagues (2011) 2) Former partner femicide, involving a former partner or a couple in a separation process, where the perpetrator is sober, but is jealous or possessive. Jealousy and possessiveness also seemed to be key factors in a qualitative study conducted by Weil (2016). 3) Current partner femicide, where the perpetrator is intoxicated and is likely to show lack of empathy, and even cruelty, towards the victim. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine femicide cases in Iceland, which is a small Nordic welfare society. Cases of femicide were explored during a 30-year time period from 1986-2015. Femicide was defined as the murder of a woman by a partner, former partner or related to passion. Verdicts and news of the incidents were analysed. Verdicts were found using the search machine Fons Juries, run by a private legal company, which collected all verdicts from the Supreme Court from 1920, and all verdicts from the district courts existing in electric form. News that included murders of women was collected from websites of the main newspapers in Iceland. Eleven women were killed during this time period according to the definition used in this study. Most of the incidents happened in the home of the perpetrator, victim or both. Nearly all of them took place during the night or in the evening during weekends, with more incidents occurring during cold and dark months than brighter and warmer months. All of them took place in the capital city or in that area. Strangulation was the most common murder method, followed by stabbing the woman with a knife. Only one woman was shot, and that perpetrator was the only one who killed himself afterward. The mean age of the perpetrators was 29. Most of them had a low level of education or their education was unknown, and had a low paying job. Two-thirds of them were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs when the incident happened and the majority had a psychiatric problem, mainly personality disorders or symptoms of such disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder. Even though it is rare, femicide incidents do exist in a small Nordic welfare society such as Iceland, despite an extensive welfare policy and gender equality.
... Femicide is defined widely as the killing of women because of their gender, although it includes different types of phenomena, such as intimate partner murder and honor killings and is often explained using different models (Corradi et al., 2016). "Failed femicide" attempts (Weil, 2016a) have received little attention across Europe. ...
Background. The vulnerability of migrant women, especially those coming from patriarchal societies, leads to the increase of gender violence. This is incremented by a myriad of socio-ecological determinants related to the immigration process and to the nature of male-female relationships.
Objectives. The main objective is to conduct a preliminary analysis of recent publications dealing with the relations between gender violence and migrant populations in the European Union, including internally displaced people.
Materials and methods. This paper is based on a revision of scientific publications from SCOPUS that relate to migrant women who are victims of gender violence in the European Union. The qualitative thematic analysis was used in order to identify the main issues targeted in the articles.
Results. The thematic analysis of the studies reviewed dealing with migration and gender violence highlighted several important themes, including prevalence of violence against migrant women; the forms and contexts of gender violence; the impact of legal, economic environments and socio-cultural barriers; the influence of conflict and war; the impact and consequences of violence, especially on women’s mental health, as well as strategies and suggestions for interventions.
Conclusions. Increasing the awareness of migration, regarding the conflicts and problems experienced by migrants (of both genders), could enable health and legal authorities to offer more significant culture and gender sensitive services, thus reducing gender violence.
... The rates of femicide differ depending on the specific country, but of the countries with the top 25 highest femicide rates, 50% are in Latin America. (16) In Europe, in order to advance research clarity, improve the efficacy of policies for femicide prevention, and publish guidelines for the use of national policy-makers, A COST Action IS1206 has established the first pan-European coalition on femicide with researchers who are already studying the phenomenon nationally. (17) The term femicide has been used intensively in Italy and even exploited by the media, with the aim of raising awareness on the topic. ...
Femicide, defined as the killing of females by males because they are females, is becoming recognized worldwide as an important ongoing manifestation of gender inequality. Actual or imminent separation, abuser’s access to firearms, prior threats with a weapon, prior threats to kill the victim, a stepchild in the household, problematic alcohol and illicit drug use, as well as mental health problems, are associated with a substantially higher risk of femicide. Little is known about the number of orphaned children who have instantaneously lost both parents. Sparse attention has been focused on children whose mother was murdered: these are difficult cases for child psychiatry teams. Decisions about protection could be made by judges, the police, social workers or officers that attend victims, on the basis of empirical data and not merely by using intuitive criteria.
... Clearly, one cannot generalize from three cases to larger populations, either of migrant women or of Ethiopian women. Nevertheless, as I showed (Weil 2016b), the three cases were independently very similar and the narratives the women told in open interviews, that often took many hours, were remarkably similar. Therefore, the issue is more of whether one can generalize from a small or minute sample to a population based on inferences. ...
The rates of domestic violence and femicide in various European countries tend to be higher among migrant women, as well as among women from cultural minorities. This led to the development of a culture and gender-sensitive in-depth interview guide aimed at better understanding this phenomenon, as well as identifying specific aspects of the experience of violence in a foreign scenario. The first stage was developing a draft interview guide based on the most important issues addressed in the professional literature, relating both to victims of domestic violence and to survivors of femicide and their families. This has allowed others to “hear their voices” and to understand their own perspectives, which are especially important considering the steady increase of this phenomenon around the world. The second phase was a pilot study among immigrant femicide survivors: first in Spain, later in Romania, and finally in Georgia, focusing on internally displaced people. The last step was analyzing the feedback from the different countries, which led to a refined and improved version of the interview guide. Thus, the current paper presents an ongoing process leading to a standardized interview guide, which could be adapted to local socio-cultural contexts, enabling comparative studies across Europe.
... Clearly, one cannot generalize from three cases to larger populations, either of migrant women or of Ethiopian women. Nevertheless, as I showed (Weil 2016b), the three cases were independently very similar and the narratives the women told in open interviews, that often took many hours, were remarkably similar. Therefore, the issue is more of whether one can generalize from a small or minute sample to a population based on inferences. ...
The paper first contextualizes femicide in the broader context of domestic violence, and homicide in the Republic of Cyprus. It then goes on to report a qualitative study of eighteen intimate partner femicide (IPF) orphans during the period 2001-2014. Findings concerning IPF, offender, and victim characteristics but also pertaining to a broad range of themes that emerged in the face-to-face interviews with the orphans are also reported and discussed. In support of theoretical notions of power and control and gender inequality, the study reported also documents of a prior history of serious conflict, physical, verbal, and psychological abuse of the IPF victim by a jealous, possessive, controlling, and oppressive violent male partner or ex-partner. Evidence is provided of the tragic inability of the authorities to heed numerous warning signs and threats-to-kill by the offender and so avert such murders. Finally, attention turns to the policy and research implications of the findings with emphasis on lethal domestic violence prevention and better support of the orphans involved.
... There are numerous qualitative studies of African women who have survived domestic violence, but knowledge of the traumas of African women femicide survivors, or qualitative descriptions of male murderers' narratives, are almost non-existent (Weil 2016a ...
... That type of crime is much less common than the killing of an intimate partner, as the studies conducted by Liem and colleagues (2011) 2) Former partner femicide, involving a former partner or a couple in a separation process, where the perpetrator is sober, but is jealous or possessive. Jealousy and possessiveness also seemed to be key factors in a qualitative study conducted by Weil (2016). 3) Current partner femicide, where the perpetrator is intoxicated and is likely to show lack of empathy, and even cruelty, towards the victim. ...
In this study, all cases of femicide in Iceland over a thirty-year period were explored. A total of sixteen women and girls were killed during the years 1986-2015. Femicide was defined in this study as the murder of a woman by a partner, former partner, or because of passion. According to this definition, eleven femicide cases occurred during this time period. The data analyzed were court verdicts and news reports of the incidents. Qualitative methods were used for analysis. Interestingly, there was a different dynamic related to femicide cases, which included 1) sex femicide, 2) former partners and 3) current partners. Alcohol consumption and the willingness of the victim to end sex appear to be a dangerous mixture, judging from the results of the sexually-related femicide cases. Alcohol consumption was a factor in all current partner femicide cases in addition to low SES status; empathy was lacking, and patriarchal views were prominent in some of them. In former partner femicide cases, jealousy and possessiveness were major themes, but not alcohol consumption. It is important to study such dynamics and contextual factors in greater detail in larger studies.
... In addition, the COST (Cooperation on Science and Technology) Action IS1206 on «Femicide across Europe» 1 has enabled networking between members hailing from 30 different countries, and resulted in several scientific publications on the subject, including a Special Issue in Current Sociology (Marcuello-Servós et al. 2016) and articles in different journals, e.g. European Journal of Criminology (Corradi and Stockl 2014) and Qualitative Sociology Review (Weil 2016a). ...
While the study of femicide has progressed recently, research into the femicide of girls is still new. The femicide of girls is the murder of girls because they are girls, and because they would have grown up to be women. This article examines different forms of girl femicide in India, a country traditionally associated with sati and infanticide. Several types of femicide in India have been identified, ranging from foeticide to intimate partner femicide, and including dowry marriage femicides, «honor»-related killings and other forms of femicide. These killings are perpetrated against a weakened minority - women - and an even more weakened minority - girls. Often they are aimed at the weakest elements in society: girls hailing from Dalit, other oppressed communities.
... In addition, the COST (Cooperation on Science and Technology) Action IS1206 on «Femicide across Europe» 1 has enabled networking between members hailing from 30 different countries, and resulted in several scientific publications on the subject, including a Special Issue in Current Sociology (Marcuello-Servós et al. 2016) and articles in different journals, e.g. European Journal of Criminology (Corradi and Stockl 2014) and Qualitative Sociology Review (Weil 2016a). ...
Research on women survivors of attempted intimate partner homicide and their postattack experiences, including the response from family, friends, and institutions like police and welfare agencies, is limited. Using the disenfranchized grief framework, this study explores survivors’ perceptions of the social response to their experiences. Thirteen participants were interviewed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, yielding four themes: (a) detachment and disregard; (b) disbelief and victim blame; (c) lack of institutional support, and (d) marginality in the legal process. The study findings suggest that both individuals and institutions failed to acknowledge and validate the participants’ experiences and thereby hindered their healing process.
El artículo presenta los principales hallazgos de una investigación sobre las trayectorias de violencia y de resiliencia de mujeres sobrevivientes de intento de feminicidio íntimo en las ciudades de La Paz y El Alto, en Bolivia. Esta investi-gación apuntó a cubrir la ausencia de la perspectiva de las víctimas en los estudios sobre el feminicidio. Adoptó la noción de violencia feminicida como continuum y proceso, frente a la concepción del feminicidio como hecho puntual consumado. Con base en una serie de entrevistas biográficas narrativas, se reconstruyeron las trayectorias de victimización (vórtices en que se incrementa la pérdida de autonomía de las víctimas y el sentimiento de propiedad sobre ellas por parte de los agresores) y las trayectorias de resiliencia (en las que fueron relevantes las familias y círculos cercanos, la determinación, el compromiso con los hijos, el altruismo, la decisión de cumplir ciertas tareas) y la terapia especializada.
This chapter documents the trends in the transmutation of the Beta Israel family from Ethiopia to Israel, and analyzes the causes.
In Ethiopia, the Beta Israel (formerly known as “Falashas” in Ethiopia) lived an agrarian life in scattered villages in Gondar province, Woggera, the Simien mountains, Walkait and the Shire region of Tigray; their origins are obscure. They were monotheistic, practicing a Torah-based, non-Oral-Law style of Judaism, and celebrating many Jewish festivals and fasts. Purity of women was an ultimate value.
The transmutation of the Beta Israel family has its origins in its migration from an underdeveloped society to a modern, Western society from the end of the 1970s on. Approximately 165,000 Ethiopian Jews and their descendants live in Israel today. The Ethiopian seven-generation kinship unit is breaking down; laws of ritual impurity are being modified; girls no longer marry at first puberty. Married women are encouraged to go out to work in order to assist with the family income. In the public sphere, women often appear more ‘successful’ than men in Israeli society (as singers, models, TV reality personalities etc.). The divorce rate is high, with over one third of Ethiopian families living as one-parent families. Finally, Ethiopian-Israeli women are disproportionately represented in the numbers of Israeli femicides perpetrated each year.
Femicide is one kind of homicide that refers to the intentional murder of women because of their gender. The chapter provides an introduction to what femicide is and its status globally. Then it explains the state of femicide and the types of killings in Israel, including so-called honor killings among the Arab population in Israel. Next, it presents empirical data from the findings from a longitudinal study of femicide in Israel over a decade (2006–2015) and the 2020 and 2021 reports of the recently established Israel Observatory on Femicide (IOF), established in line with directives from the United Nations. Finally, it discusses the rise in femicide in Israel during COVID-19 and the lockdown and shows that there has been a reduction in the number of femicides committed in Israel in 2021 after the strict COVID regulations were relaxed.
This study followed the current scholarly interest in seeking possible links between social and cultural factors and homicide by offering comparative nation-based observations on femicide. To this end, the study analyzed femicide events across social groups in Israel (veteran Jews, Jewish immigrants from the former USSR, Ethiopian immigrant Jews, Arabs, Christians, Druze, Muslims, and Bedouin) and foreigners (asylum seekers and foreign workers) during a 6-year period (2010–2015). Data from 162 cases were collected and coded based on 25 sociodemographic and criminological variables. Empirical observations suggest sociocultural diversity in the femicide phenomenon across social groups. Femicide’s frequency and sociodemographic characteristics seem to be related to cultural dimensions pertaining to individualistic versus collectivistic cultures, with social factors such as level of education, socioeconomic status, and immigration possible overriding the effects of cultural dimensions on femicide. Highlighting sociocultural criminal diversity, the article’s observations may be of great relevance to societies facing the challenge of assimilating diverse sociocultural groups.
Bu çalışmada, son yıllarda kamusal tartışmalarda ve akademik alanda görünürlük kazanan kadın cinayetleri olgusunun hangi sembolik anlamlarla birlikte ortaya çıktığı, öldürücü şiddet pratiğinin hangi kadınlıkları sembolik olarak “değersiz”, dolayısıyla da öldürülmeye “değer”, olarak ürettiği mercek altına alınmaktadır. Hem uluslararası literatürde hem de Türkiye üzerine incelemelerde sıklıkla niceliksel bir yaklaşımla incelenen kadın cinayetleri olgusunun nitel bir yaklaşımla anlaşılması hedeflenmektedir. Bu doğrultuda, Diyarbakır’da öldürülen üç kadının sonuçlandırılmış dava dosyaları incelenmektedir. Çalışmanın kuramsal çerçevesini, Grzyb’in (2016) kadın cinayetleri olgusunu anlamak için Bourdieu’nün sembolik iktidar ve sembolik şiddet kavramlarına başvurarak oluşturduğu kavramsal araçlar oluşturmaktadır. Bu çerçeveden hareketle, öldürülen kadınların sembolik iktidar mekanizmaları içerisinde itaatkar, uysal ve saygın olmayan kadınlık temsilleriyle anlamlandırıldıkları ileri sürülmektedir. Bu sembolik şiddet biçimi sembolik iktidarın kriz dinamiklerini oluşturmaktadır. Sonuç olarak da öldürücü şiddet pratikleri sembolik iktidarı onaran ve canlandıran strateji olarak işlemektedir.
FEMICIDE WITHIN THE ROMANIAN IMMIGRANTS COMMUNITIES The present study analyses a sample of cases of femicide committed among Romanian migrants between 2011 and 2015. The operational definition used for femicide was: "killing a woman by her intimate partner (husband, ex-husband, cohabitant, lover)". The information about cases of femicide were obtained from Femicide in Romania (2011-2015) databases. In order to highlight the pecularities of the femicide cases committed between Romanian emigrants I included in the analysis also the information regarding the cases of femicide-suicide among Romanian emigrants. The data regarding femicide-suicide were obtained from Homicide-suicides in Romania (2002-2013) databases. The analysis of the data regarding femicide and femicide-suicide cases committed among Romanian emigrants stressed some common pecularities for the two sub-types of femicide (place of the murder, the time when the murder took place and murder's motivation). On the other hand, the study highlighted some differences regarded to modus operandi, victims'profiles and the characteristics of offenders who committed femicide and femicide-suicide.
This article reviews the state of the art of qualitative research on femicide, which, until the publication of this Special Issue, has been extremely sparse. The paper mentions some of the limitations of the qualitative approach, such as time consumption, ethical liabilities, and non-generalizability. However, it advocates qualitative research because of its advantages in capturing the context, describing the experience, identifying the motives, highlighting the relationship between perpetrator and victim, identifying the risk factors, and suggesting apt policies. The article concludes by cautiously recommending a mixed-/merged-methods approach, which, in turn, depends upon the research question and has its own inherent disadvantages.
This paper asserts that the growing expansion of the micro realm of social activity calls for the exploration of everyday experience, seen as ranging from the most extraordinary to the most ordinary. The paper focuses on two constitutive features of the ordinary type of experience, namely, normality and boredom. It conceptualizes normality as an outcome of people’s potential to construct meaning of their ordinary experiences and boredom as a state signaling our inability to realize this desire. Both types of ordinary experience are in the core of everyday life and thus their consequences can be detrimental to the quality of social life. This paper’s discussion of normality and boredom includes both sociological and literary works where these two phenomena find their rich expression.
In the recent years, Ethiopian immigrants in Israel have been making headlines mainly in connection to domestic violence and murder. For the last decade, 30 Ethiopian women were murdered by their husbands. Iyengar (1991) distinguishes between two types of framing in news coverage. An episodic frame, which focuses mostly on the specific details of the events, and a thematic frame, which deals with the broader context within the events occur. In the case of the thematic frame, the source of the problem is found in the wider social circles, or the care-giving facilities, and they bear the responsibility for solving the problem as well. According Carter and Weaver (2003) the media’s presentation of violent stories constitutes means of social control, which encourages fear that leads to the search for authoritative and one-dimensional solutions. In order to examine the nature of the press coverage of Ethiopian husbands who murdered their wives, two of the most popular daily newspapers in Israel have been chosen. The sample includes all the articles regarding eight Ethiopian women murdered by their partners during the years 2007-2009. It seems as the press coverage of the murdered Ethiopian women makes use of both types of frames: episodic and thematic. Strengthening the image of the poor, criminal black immigrant plays a dual functional purpose, Illustrating, on the one hand, a clear line between the dangerous and the normal and, on the other hand, removing responsibility from the rest of the Israeli society.
Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power together with Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorisation Theory (SCT) have been influential in social psychology to examine power-related behaviours. While positivist experimental and survey methods are common in social psychological studies, these approaches may not adequately consider Turner’s constructs due to a comparative lack of ecological validity. Drawing on a methodology-focused review of the existing research of applying aspects of Turner’s theory of power and SIT/SCT, the interpretivist case study approach by using interviews and other data collections is highlighted as an alternative and useful method to the application of Turner’s framework. The applicability of the interpretive case study approach is further emphasised in comparison with the positivist experiments and surveys. This paper also discusses how this new way of exploration may allow us to understand Turner’s work better.
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a performance measurement and strategic management system which appearssuitable for use by all types and sizes of business. The BSC’s greatest strength for most businesses comes fromits innate ability to integrate financial and non-financial measures together by measuring both strategic andbusiness performance across four interrelated perspectives. Many studies have shown that the BSC can besuccessfully implemented within large-scale companies and organizations. However, there is limited empiricalevidence regarding the use of the BSC within small companies. This study adds to the existing literature byreporting the results of a comparative investigation of BSC awareness and use within small companies located inthe UK and Cyprus. In addition, the study examines the reasons for non-adoption by small companies andwhether these companies use performances measures that are similar to those typically contained within the BSCmodel. The research data was collected from self-completed questionnaires that were distributed to 500companies in the UK and Cyprus. The findings of the survey suggest that the majority of small companies,especially in the UK, are unaware of the BSC, and consequently levels of BSC usage are extremely low. Certainrespondents believed that BSC is an unsuitable tool for small companies and that its implementation is beyondthe resources available to such entities. However, the findings also suggest that even though very few smallcompanies actually use the BSC, many such companies appear to use performances measures and indicatorssimilar to those typically included within a BSC model.
There has been very little research investigating leisure boredom and risk behaviour among adolescents in South Africa. Using a qualitative approach, this study investigated adolescents’ perceptions of leisure boredom and risk behaviour during free time. The sample comprised three groups of adolescent participants: a community group, a school group and a group who had dropped out of school. Participants documented their free time experiences by taking photographs that were later discussed in focus groups. The findings showed that the participants were bored in their free time mainly because they had nothing to do. The low socio-economic environment where they lived contributed to occupational deprivation and imbalance in their free time, maintaining or ‘trapping’ the adolescents within the situation and contributing to feelings of boredom. The participants spent much of their free time ‘hanging out’ on street corners or in backyards, which allowed them to socialise, but inevitably led to boredom. Participants felt that boredom was part of life, although some perceived it to be ‘dangerous’ because it often led to risky behaviour. In conclusion, the study showed that for the participants, leisure is an occupational concern due to the occupational deprivation and imbalance occurring within their free time. Occupational therapists should consider how leisure boredom influences adolescent health, wellbeing and development, and plan interventions accordingly.
Conflict throughout Africa has created havoc for many. This overwhelming chaos has led to the disintegration of social order and generated widespread gender-based violence. As a result, African women have become casualties, experienced brutal acts of sexual violence, and been forced into exile. Drawing on the tribulations of displaced African female survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, this article discusses these women's experiences and highlights the barriers and struggles encountered while seeking refuge. The article concludes by exploring the challenges of providing culturally informed, strength-focused mental health services to these women as they rebuild their lives in a new sociocultural context.
From a liberal feminist perspective, we argue that gender can both inform, and should continue to be informed by, social identity studies in efforts to understand and manage subtle sexism in contemporary workplaces. We investigated the presence of a form of subtle sexism, affective aversive sexism, in an Australian male-dominated organization: a police force. To do this we surveyed 159 policemen and examined relationships between individual emotional experience, emotional intensity and emotion regulation. Results indicated that, in a subtle display of intergroup bias, policemen experienced both higher positive and higher negative emotions in the presence of other policemen than of policewomen who, we argue, may be less central in the men's identities and relationships at work. Implications for research, training, and emotion management in the workplace are discussed and it is suggested that liberal feminist research can contribute much to understanding the dynamics that reproduce structural segregation in the workplace.
El feminicidio es más que un neologismo. El femicidio se refiere a un fenómeno violento, es más, designa el asesinato con intención. Todos los femicidios son expresiones de violencia extrema. Son de una “patología social”. Tenemos que luchar contra este fenómeno atroz y despreciable en sus dimensiones local y global. Se produce en muchas partes del mundo; de hecho, pocas sociedades están libres de él. Para ello es necesario describir, analizar e informar. Aquí nos ocupamos de las perspectivas internacionales sobre femicidio, teniendo en cuenta las explicaciones teóricas sobre el femicidio, considerando análisis empíricos y las políticas públicas; incorporamos artículos de diferentes perspectivas, diferentes países y abarcando diferentes enfoques teóricos. Como un asunto interdisciplinario, establece un reto para los profesionales y la humanidad en su conjunto: esperamos que sea un importante paso adelante hacia el establecimiento de la convergencia en la claridad de investigación y un consenso sobre las definiciones, reuniendo un cuerpo estructurado de conocimientos que pueden ayudar a mejorar la eficacia de las políticas para la prevención del femicidio. Traemos aquí una construcción del discurso que emerge de las contribuciones a este número especial, que tiene el potencial para capacitar a los profesionales y servir como una plataforma coherente para las políticas futuras de prevención femicidio. El cambio puede ser implementado a través de la apropiación múltiple de estos hallazgos significativos.
Almost four decades have passed since the term femicide was coined in 1976. This new word had a political purpose, in that it intended to produce changes in the social order which tolerated the violent death of women. Since that time, the word has generated a theoretical concept that encompasses the killing of a woman as a specific social phenomenon. Femicide is an effort in sociological imagination that has been successful in transforming conventional perception, public awareness, scientific research and policy making. This article undertakes to review how femicide has evolved in social research. It analyses the most important theories explaining femicide: the feminist, sociological, criminological, human rights and decolonial research approaches and their theoretical significance. It discusses Mexico as a case study, exemplifying how a new English term was then translated into another language and applied in a very specific socio-political context, so that it became instrumental in changing reality and improving the lives of women. Finally, the article proposes a framework where femicide is understood as a social phenomenon that demands an interdisciplinary approach. The authors recommend a systemic, multifaceted model in order to improve both scientific analysis and prevention.
In this interdisciplinary collection leading experts and scholars from criminology, psychology, law and history provide a compelling analysis of practices and beliefs that lead to violence against women, men and children in the name 'honour'.
The Feres Mura, Ethiopian Jews whose families converted to Christianity during the nineteenth century and then reasserted their Jewish identity in the late twentieth century, still await acceptance by Israel. Since the 1980s, they have sought homecoming through the state's right of return law. Instead of a welcoming embrace, Israel's government and society regard them with reticence and suspicion. Using more over ten years of ethnographical research, One People, One Blood expertly documents this tenuous relationship and the challenges facing the Feres Mura.
This volume continues to explore the life and works of Auguste Comte during his so-called second career. It covers the period from the coup d’état of Louis Napoleon in late 1851 to Comte's death in 1857. During these early years of the Second Empire, Comte became increasingly conservative and anxious to control his disciples. This study offers the first study of the tensions within his movement. Focusing on his second masterpiece, the Système de politique positive, and other important books, such as the Synthèse subjective, Mary Pickering not only sheds light on Comte's intellectual development but also traces the dissemination of positivism and the Religion of Humanity throughout many parts of the world.
According to John Adair, the most important word in the leader's vocabulary is "we" and the least important word is "I". But if this is true, it raises one important question: why do psychological analyses of leadership always focus on the leader as an individual - as the great "I"? One answer is that theorists and practitioners have never properly understood the psychology of "we-ness". This book fills this gap by presenting a new psychology of leadership that is the result of two decades of research inspired by social identity and self-categorization theories. The book argues that to succeed, leaders need to create, champion, and embed a group identity in order to cultivate an understanding of 'us' of which they themselves are representative. It also shows how, by doing this, they can make a material difference to the groups, organizations, and societies that they lead. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book examines a range of central theoretical and practical issues, including the nature of group identity, the basis of authority and legitimacy, the dynamics of justice and fairness, the determinants of followership and charisma, and the practice and politics of leadership. The book will appeal to academics, practitioners and students in social and organizational psychology, sociology, political science and anyone interested in leadership, influence and power.
Even as they see their wages go down and their buying power decrease, many parents are still putting their kids' material desires first. These parents struggle with how to handle children's consumer wants, which continue unabated despite the economic downturn. And, indeed, parents and other adults continue to spend billions of dollars on children every year. Why do children seem to desire so much, so often, so soon, and why do parents capitulate so readily? To determine what forces lie behind the onslaught of Nintendo Wiis and Bratz dolls, Allison J. Pugh spent three years observing and interviewing children and their families. In Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture, Pugh teases out the complex factors that contribute to how we buy, from lunchroom conversations about Game Boys to the stark inequalities facing American children. Pugh finds that children's desires stem less from striving for status or falling victim to advertising than from their yearning to join the conversation at school or in the neighborhood. Most parents respond to children's need to belong by buying the particular goods and experiences that act as passports in children's social worlds, because they sympathize with their children's fear of being different from their peers. Even under financial constraints, families prioritize children "feeling normal". Pugh masterfully illuminates the surprising similarities in the fears and hopes of parents and children from vastly different social contexts, showing that while corporate marketing and materialism play a part in the commodification of childhood, at the heart of the matter is the desire to belong.
This chapter critically reviews the literature on power relations in information systems implementation projects. IS projects redistribute information and power in organizations and are thus implicated in both project progress and ultimately project success. The review firstly considers the ideas of Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes, and Latour, as these are the most established and prominent theories in the major IS papers on power. This chapter argues for a consideration of a new theory of power and social influence from social psychology deemed suitable for use in IS research. The ideas of this theory have not yet been examined empirically in IS studies of power relations in IS implementations but arguably offer an important opportunity for IS researchers.
This article examines how table-top role-playing fantasy gamers engage in edgework. Edgework, as defined by Stephen Lyng, occurs when people voluntarily tread boundaries to gain emotional rewards. Based on nineteen months of participant-observation in a gaming group, twenty in-depth interviews, and archival data from e-mail lists and websites, I show how gamers gained many of the benefits that traditional edgeworkers, like extreme sports participants, obtain without the physical danger. Participants tread the boundaries of sanity/insanity and order/disorder, prepared for their edgework, and sustained an illusion of control. By playing a game, they felt alive and powerful, yet removed the edge, thus engaging in “virtual edgework.” In contrast to previous studies, I show that what makes an activity edgework is not the type of risk but how the experience is structured. I suggest that future scholars need to consider new avenues for edgework as people’s lives move online.
This book presents research unique in its breadth, depth, and detail and uses both quantitative and qualitative evidence from Casefiles and Interviews with men convicted of murder. The focus is on three types of murder of women by men-intimate partner murder, sexual murder, and the murder of older women. Each type is examined in a separate section containing three chapters addressing the knowledge, the murder event, and the lifecourse of the perpetrators. The findings are used to explore the context and circumstances of the murder event and to describe the lifecourse of the perpetrators from childhood to adulthood and into prison. Particular attention is given to previous physical and/or sexual violence against women and against the woman they murder. The findings are organized conceptually and progressively in order to reveal the dynamic aspects of murder events, the lives of the men who murder women, and their reflections on the murder including denial, empathy, and remorse. The evidence indicates that men who murder women specialize in using violence against women and demonstrates the importance of gender and gendered relationships in understanding when men murder women.
Recently, a number of researchers have drawn on Lyng's (1990) theorization of the concept of edgework in explorations of voluntary risk activities in late modernity. Unfortunately, a theoretical consideration of how these edgework activities are gendered is underdeveloped in the edgework literature. In this article I outline the theories that have dominated edgework literature, critique the general oversight of a nuanced theory of gender in edgework, and highlight a sample of evidence showing that participation in "risk sports" (as one example of edgework) is a gendered experience. I also outline the concept of a "gendered risk regime" as a tool for exploring risk and gender as ongoing and intersecting constructions.
Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further the theoretical understanding of leadership in emergency type organisations by modelling contextual aspects which are assumed to influence it.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical analysis followed by an operationalisation of key concepts and two small‐scale empirical cross‐sectional tests.
Findings
Contextual conditions at the group, organisation, and environmental levels that are assumed to influence leadership in emergency type organisations were modelled in lower‐ to higher‐extent bipolar dimensions. An empirical test involving Scandinavian military officers ( n =57) and Swedish health care (ambulance) professionals ( n =39) yielded profiles for leaders at three different hierarchical levels during severely demanding operations: field‐level group/team leaders; field‐level commanders/managers; and high‐level strategic commanders/managers. Considerable differences were found between the three profiles on scales designed to measure environmental and more structure‐related organisational conditions. Almost no differences were noted on “softer” aspects such as organisational culture and small group characteristics.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses only on traditional hierarchical organisations that are designed to function in extreme conditions (the armed forces and acute health care).
Practical implications
If empirically further tested and proved valid, the suggested model could be of value in leadership and organisational development efforts.
Originality/value
The theoretical approach is new. The presented operationalisations open up for full‐model tests of leadership models based on an interactional person‐by‐situation paradigm.
Homicide is an important source of premature mortality, with intimate partners committing approximately one in seven homicides. Utilizing national statistics, this article explores recent data on intimate partner homicide in 10 European countries, namely Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It discusses policy developments and the role of key policy-making actors and it provides a novel classification, based on the time when government action developed, that maps the 10 countries in a temporal sequence under three main headings: early birds, intermediate and newcomers. Notwithstanding great differences, the article finds common trends in policy developments. Institutional commitment in collecting intimate partner homicide data is consistent with an enduring record of both women’s activism and public action in addressing intimate partner violence.
This study seeks to describe and explain female homicide victimization rates across Europe from 1985 to 2010. It examines whether cross-national differences in the levels of female homicides are due to the same factors that explain cross-national homicide variation more generally, whether they are the product of differences in gender dynamics across these countries, or whether they are reflections of regional differences capturing varying historical and cultural trajectories. Pooled time-series analysis of 33 countries over four time periods revealed that all three explanations are salient, although particular measures of each set of theories did not always perform as expected. The paper concludes that understanding macro-level variations in female homicide victimization requires multifaceted explanations that bridge criminological theories and that are also sensitive to socio-historical context.
This article conceptualizes economies of spectatorship through a case study of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (SMR). Economies of spectatorship produce spectacular diegeses as commodities sold to spectators and sponsors. They develop through a dialectical process of progressive decontextualization as their diegeses are cross-marketed with discrepant products and services to reach new markets. Progressive decontextualization leads to diegetic incoherence that threatens the realization of profit. As an economy of spectatorship, the SMR produced an outlaw biker themed diegesis replete with vicarious action and consumable character gambles. The SMR progressively decontextualized as it cross-marketed its outlaw diegesis with establishment corporate, religious and political themes. The resulting diegetic incoherence threatened profits and required the SMR’s producers to make significant investments in order to stabilize its flow of spectators and sponsors. Conceptualizing such inherently negating processes is critical to understanding the commodification of spectacle in mature capitalism.
From at least the time of George Herbert Mead, theorists have argued for the invocation of multiple identities in one situation; however, why multiple identities are simultaneously invoked remains a question. Both identity theory and feminist theory conceptually recognize the importance of the influence of multiple identities in a single situation; however, little is known about why these identities are concurrently invoked. In an exploratory analysis grounded in identity theory and using a sample of amateur bodybuilders obtained via a mail survey, this paper considers the issue of meaning independence in understanding why multiple identities are concurrently invoked. Based on logistic regression results, two of the three hypotheses advanced were supported. Identity meanings appear to be an important influence on the number of identities invoked in a situation. Suggestions for future research are proposed.
This article uses data from a four-year ethnographic study of off-road driving enthusiasts to investigate the potential of leisure consumption to organize collective action. I analyze a serious-leisure community's efforts to secure a place in the future for the culture of its constituency and suggest that this collective action reflects the increasing significance of consumption as a foundation of personal and collective identity in contemporary society. These Jeep people perceived themselves as facing negative stereotypes that constituted an existential threat to their personal and collective identities, which demanded access to natural areas for their maintenance and articulation. Drawing on theoretical insights from literatures on community, consumption, and the identity politics of new social movements, I analyze Jeepers' efforts to overcome negative stereotypes through identity work and impression management in the public realm. My findings offer empirical support to theoretical claims that new forms of community can foster benefits to individuals and groups that are similar-and perhaps functionally equivalent-to those generated by traditional forms of community; these off-road driving enthusiasts challenge pessimistic assumptions about the capacity of leisure consumption to inspire the commitment and public-sphere activity characteristic of "genuine" communities.
