Richard J. Gelles – författare

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills."

--Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University

"Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research."

--JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?)  Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?).  Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence.

This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills."

--Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University

"Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research."

--JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?)  Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?).  Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence.

This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

Changes in the thinking of science are usually accompanied by lively intellectual conflicts between opposing or divergent points of view. The clash of ideas is a major ingredient in the stimulation of the life of the mind in human culture. Such arguments and counter-arguments, of proofs and disproofs, permit changes in the arts and sciences to take place. Political science is not exempt from these conflicts.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the study of politics has been rocked by disagreements over its scope, theories, and methods. These disagreements were somewhat less frequent than in most sciences, natural or behavioral, but they have been at times bitter and persuasive. The subject matter of political science politics and all that is involved in politics has a halo effect. The stakes of politics make people fight and sometimes die for what they claim as their due. Political scientists seem to confuse academic with political stakes, behaving as if the victories and defeats on the battleground of the intellect resemble those on the battleground of political life.

Three issues seem critical to political science at the time this volume first appeared in the 1960s: First, disagreement over the nature of the knowledge of political things is a science of politics possible, or is the study of politics a matter of philosophy? Second, controversy over the place of values in the study of politics a controversy that makes for a great deal of confusion. Third, disagreements over the basic units of analysis in the study of politics‘should the political scientist study individual and collective behavior, or limit the work to the study of institutions and large-scale processes? This collection brings together the most persuasive writings on these topics in the mid-1960s.

Changes in the thinking of science are usually accompanied by lively intellectual conflicts between opposing or divergent points of view. The clash of ideas is a major ingredient in the stimulation of the life of the mind in human culture. Such arguments and counter-arguments, of proofs and disproofs, permit changes in the arts and sciences to take place. Political science is not exempt from these conflicts.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the study of politics has been rocked by disagreements over its scope, theories, and methods. These disagreements were somewhat less frequent than in most sciences, natural or behavioral, but they have been at times bitter and persuasive. The subject matter of political science politics and all that is involved in politics has a halo effect. The stakes of politics make people fight and sometimes die for what they claim as their due. Political scientists seem to confuse academic with political stakes, behaving as if the victories and defeats on the battleground of the intellect resemble those on the battleground of political life.

Three issues seem critical to political science at the time this volume first appeared in the 1960s: First, disagreement over the nature of the knowledge of political things is a science of politics possible, or is the study of politics a matter of philosophy? Second, controversy over the place of values in the study of politics a controversy that makes for a great deal of confusion. Third, disagreements over the basic units of analysis in the study of politics‘should the political scientist study individual and collective behavior, or limit the work to the study of institutions and large-scale processes? This collection brings together the most persuasive writings on these topics in the mid-1960s.