A spatial-temporal, intersectional and institutional approach to interpersonal violence

Struggles for moral value and the reproduction of gendered and racialised hierarchies in online discussions of violence

The article examines online discussions in Finland that focus on violence committed by Finnish women, on one hand, and non-white migrant men, on the other. Drawing on the perspective of sociology of value, the article illustrates how these discussions function as sites of struggles over moral worth in a contemporary context characterised by crises of both male and white hegemony. The authors suggest that, through the discussions, these current crises are projected on migrant men and certain groups of women, who thereby become construed as morally reprehensible. The analysis sheds light on processes of (re-)legitimating the moral virtue historically attached to both masculinity and whitenes…

Moraalisen ekskluusion mekanismit maahanmuuttajamiesten väkivaltaa koskevassa kansalaiskeskustelussa

Maahanmuuttajamiesten tekemä väkivalta ja sen uhka on kiivasta keskustelua ja vahvoja moraalisia kannanottoja herättävä aihe. Artikkelissani tarkastelen aiheesta eri internetfoorumeilla käytyä kansalaiskeskustelua, joka on virinnyt reaktiona viimeaikaisiin väkivaltatapauksiin. Tulkitsen keskustelussa korostuvia moraalisia kannanottoja moraalisen järjestyksen tuottamista jäsentävän kategoria-analyysin keinoin sekä rodullisesti hierarkisoivia prosesseja tarkastelevan jälkikoloniaalin tutkimuksen näkökulmasta. Tutkimukseni mukaan maahanmuuttajamiesten väkivaltaa merkityksellistetään erityistä moraalista paheksuntaa ja huolta synnyttävänä toimintana, joka saa yksittäista…

At the Interface of National and Transnational: The Development of Finnish Policies against Domestic Violence in Terms of Gender Equality

Although gender inequalities are the main social mechanisms behind the (re)production of domestic violence, policy responses to domestic violence as a gender-related problem vary at both the national and transnational levels. This article examines the interaction between national and transnational policies against domestic violence, focusing on how domestic violence is constructed as a gender-related problem in Finland, a Nordic welfare state that is often cited as a role model in gender equality. Using the conception of policies as historically changing and culturally specific discourses, this article offers an overview of the ways in which the perspective on domestic violence of the trans…

Habitual Trust in Encountering Violence at Work

• Summary: This article analyses attitudes towards client-perpetrated violence among Finnish social workers and nurses. The research material consists of 25 theme interviews and 20 thematic writings which are examined by means of content analysis.• Findings: Although statistics show that among all the professional groups in Finland, people working in social welfare and health care are most likely to encounter violence, the risk of violence is underestimated by these professionals. In addition, violence that has taken place is not recognized as `real' violence, but as an excusable expression of clients' distress, or as a justified reaction to the employees' conduct. By using Niklas Luhmann's…

Lähisuhdeväkivallan tunnistaminen erikoissairaanhoidossa

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää potilaiden lähisuhdeväkivaltakokemusten yleisyyttä, koetun väkivallan muotoja ja toistuvuutta sekä hoidontarvetta. Tutkimus toteutettiin Keski-Suomen keskussairaalan synnytysyksikössä, päivystysalueella sekä psykiatrisessa sairaalassa. Tutkimukseen osallistui yhteensä 530 potilasta. Projektin pilottiyksiköiden hoitohenkilökunta käytti potilaiden lähisuhdeväkivaltakokemusten ja niiden aiheuttaman hoidontarpeen selvittämiseksi suodatin- ja kartoituskysymyslomaketta. Kyselyn aikainen tai aiempi lähisuhdeväkivalta vaikutti potilaan oman arvion mukaan kielteisesti hänen hyvinvointiinsa ja elämänhallintaansa 10,5 %:lla synnytysyksikön, 31,7 %:lla psykiatris…

Possibilities for Intervention in Domestic Violence: Frame Analysis of Health Care Professionals’ Attitudes

ABSTRACT. Violence is a serious problem, and social and health care providers are in a key position for implementing successful interventions. This qualitative study of 6 focus groups with professionals (n = 30) examines the health care professionals’ ways of framing a domestic violence intervention. Of special interest here is how professionals see their own roles in the process of recognizing and helping victims of domestic violence. By using Erving Goffman's frame analysis, this study identifies several frames that either: a) emphasize the obstacles to intervention and justify nonintervention, or on the contrary, b) question these obstacles and find justifications for intervention. The p…

Tukitoimenpiteet lähisuhdeväkivaltaa kokeneille naisille

Lähisuhdeväkivalta on yhä 2010-luvun Suomessa vakava sosiaalinen, taloudellinen ja inhimillinen ongelma. Yhteiskunnallisia toimenpiteitä lähisuhdeväkivaltaan puuttumiseksi ja auttamisjärjestelmien kehittämiseksi on toteutettu eri sektoreilla viimeisen kahdenkymmenen vuoden aikana runsaasti, mutta edelleenkin lähisuhdeväkivallan uhreille tarjottavista palveluista ja niiden alueellisesta jakautumisesta on vain hajanaista tietoa. Talvella 2012 Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö antoi Jyväskylän yliopiston sosiaalityön yksikölle toimeksiannoksi toteuttaa selvitys lähisuhdeväkivallan uhreiksi joutuneille naisille tarjottavista palveluista. Selvitys toteutettiin internetpohjaisena kyselynä helmikuuss…

Vihan voima : toimijuus ja muutos vihakertomuksissa

Social and health care professionals' views on responsible agency in the process of ending intimate partner violence

This article examines social and health care professionals’ views, based on their encounters with both victims and perpetrators, on the division of responsibility in the process of ending intimate partner violence. Applying discourse analysis to focus group discussions with a total of 45 professionals on solutions to the problem, several positions of responsible agency in which professionals place themselves and their clients are identified. The results suggest that one key to understanding the complexities involved in violence intervention lies in a more adequate theorization of the temporal and intersubjective dimensions of the process of assigning responsibility for the problem.

Domestic Violence Interventions in Social and Health Care Settings: Challenges of Temporary Projects and Short-Term Solutions.

Social welfare service and health care providers are in a key position to implement successful domestic violence (DV) interventions. However, it is known that DV intervention and prevention work is often lacking in coordination and continuity. In addition, the limited resources, hectic work pace, and changing practices negatively affect the development of successful ways to prevent and intervene in DV. This qualitative study involving 11 focus groups, composed of social welfare and health care professionals ( n = 51) in a midsized Finnish hospital, examined the challenges and possibilities within DV interventions and the adoption of good practices produced by a DV intervention development …

Affective (re)orientations in online discussions on the threat of violence posed by migrants

Online discussions are rife with fear-evoking images and meaning making that highlight a perceived threat to the security of European nations and their inhabitants posed by migrants’ violence in the wake of increased immigration. This paper examines the role of emotions in shaping anti-immigration views as a response to the threat of violence attached to migrants in online conversations. Using a dataset of Finnish online discussion threads from 2015 to 2017 that were prompted by extensive media attention paid to various cases of violent crime in which migrants were suspects, we particularly analyse the affective dynamics of interpellation processes wherein discussants are invited to adopt a…

Lähisuhdeväkivallan kehystäminen erikoissairaanhoidossa : puuttumisen ja muutoksen mahdollisuudet

Lähisuhdeväkivaltaan puuttuminen terveydenhuollossa on haasteellinen ja kiistanalainen kysymys. Tässä artikkelissa käsittelemme lähisuhdeväkivallan kohtaamisen tapoja erikoissairaanhoidossa. Aineistona on kuusi erikoissairaanhoidon ammattilaisten fokusryhmähaastattelua. Taustateoriana ja menetelmänä käytämme Erving Goffmanin arkielämän vuorovaikutustilanteiden tutkimiseen kehittämää kehysanalyysia. Tarkastelemme, millaiset kehystämisen tavat estävät ja millaiset edistävät väkivallan tunnistamista ja siihen puuttumista. Aineistosta analysoimamme väkivaltaan puuttumattomuutta perustelevat kehykset ovat: 1) medikaalinen, 2) käytännöllinen, 3) individualistinen ja 4) psykologinen. Väkivaltaan p…

The Art of Pacifying an Aggressive Client: ‘Feminine’ Skills and Preventing Violence in Caring Work

This article explores the complex interconnection between gender and emotion in the context of client-perpetrated violence at work, focusing on interviews with and writings by Finnish nurses and social workers to discuss the ‘feminine’ emotional skills that are supposed to prevent violence. The social formation of these skills is analysed with the concept ‘emotional habitus’: emotional skills derive from the socially acquired disposition to manage emotions according to the gendered values of caring work. Emotional habitus, based on the internalized, second-nature sense of emotional management, is shown to both persuade and enable employees to use emotional skills as assets for negotiating v…

Gender, Care, and the Normalization of Violence: Similarities between Occupational Violence and Intimate Partner Violence in Finland

According to the statistics, violence against women is quite common in Finland, particularly in partner relationships and in care work. The present article looks at the similarities in the ways in which victims of occupational violence in care work and victims of intimate partner violence understand their experiences of violence. The commonalities among interpersonal relations are highlighted in order to offer new insights to the analysis of gender in research on occupational violence. Drawing on empirical data and research literature on the experiences of violence of Finnish women, this article suggests that minimization, naturalization and legitimization of the encountered violence is typ…

Making sense of domestic violence intervention in professional health care

Intervening in domestic violence in the health care and social service settings is a complex and contested issue. In this qualitative, multidisciplinary study, the barriers to but also the possibilities for health care professionals in encountering victims of violence were scrutinised. The focus was on omissions in service structure and practices. The data consisted of six focus group interviews with nurses, physicians, social workers and psychologists in specialist health care (n = 30) conducted in Finland in 2009. The aim was to explore professionals' processes of making sense of violence interventions and the organisational practices of violence interventions. Four types of framing of th…