A man's right to beat his wife» - marital violence in Portuguese society

Abstract

The subject of violence only began to appear in scientific work on the family in the sixties but nowadays is one of the most important subjects of research into the family. The extensive (foreign) works on «battered wives» treat the subject as a deviation. In this study, physical aggression against one's wife is considered as a social phenomenon with roots in the structure of society and which should be considered from the point of view of sociology of norms. A survey in Portugal (among men, women and children) confirms the existence of wife-beating as a social practice expressed in the context of the marital relationship.