EXPLAINING VIOLENCE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, AND PERSISTENT VIOLENCE AMONG MEN

• Date: 20 December 2000
• Published date: 20 December 2000
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-6136(2000)0000002017
• Pages: 325-342
• Author: Rebecca S. Katz

EXPLAINING VIOLENCE, SUBSTANCE

ABUSE, AND PERSISTENT VIOLENCE

AMONG MEN: ELABORATING A SIDE-

BY-SIDE INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF

FOUR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Rebecca S. Katz

ABSTRACT

This chapter elaborates on the continuing proposal for the theoretical

integration of a number of perspectives traditionally not associated with

one another (see Katz, 1999). Separately, each perspective intuitively

maintains a great deal of interest although only one has been consistently

tested by criminologists. This integrative approach links James Messer-

schmidt’s structured action theory, the age-graded life course theory

(Sampson & Laub, 1993), Gottfredson & Hirschi’s general theory of crime

(1990) and John Bowlby’s attachment theory (Bowlby, 1949). Such an

integrative approach may explain Sampson & Laub’s qualitative findings

that marital attachments failed to lead substance-abusing men towards

desistance but rather led them toward continued violent offending against

their wives. This proposed side-by-side integration posits that substance-

abusing men will remain unaffected by marital attachments as the result of

early gendered socialization and attachment processes which promote

Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume 2, pages 325–342.

Copyright © 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc.

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

ISBN: 0-7623-0680-7

325

doing hegemonic masculinity (Bird, 1996; Connell, 1995; Messerschmidt,

1993, 1997; Stark & Flitcraft, 1996).

INTRODUCTION

R. W. Connell’s theoretical work explains that gender is not fixed but

“constructed in interaction.” Connell’s model of masculinity is a developmental

approach to the understanding of gendered behavior as it occurs within specific

contexts (Connell, 1995, p. 35). Such a gendered approach to explaining crime

is necessary since men and boys commit most crime (Messerschmidt, 1993,

1997). Connell’s model may be integrated in a side-by-side fashion to a number

of other theoretical perspectives already integrated in such a fashion (see Katz,

1999). These other theories include Gottfredson & Hirschi’s theory of self-

control, Bowlby’s attachment theory, and Sampson & Laub’s life-course

perspective. This integrated model may lead criminologists toward a clearer

understanding of the relationship between the gendered nature of early and

later attachment relationships and the precise nature of the nexus between

violence and substance abuse (Chodorow, 1978). Finally, such an approach

may bridge the gap between work examining violence committed by men

against women and violence committed by men against other men (Russell,

1998; Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1998; Websdale, 1998; Holtzworth-Munroe,

Stuart & Hutchinson, 1997)

SIDE-BY-SIDE INTEGRATION OF ATTACHMENT

THEORY, GOTTFREDSON AND HIRSCHI’S GENERAL

THEORY OF CRIME, AND STRUCTURED ACTION

THEORY

John Bowlby’s attachment theory assumes that the development of an

attachment between the primary caretaker and the child is the basic foundation

of all future development (Bowlby, 1969, 1988; Horner, 1991; Katz, 1999). The

primary caretaker facilitates this attachment process through the provision of

safety and security to the infant through meeting the child’s needs (Bowlby,

1988: 27). A number of studies substantiate this process beginning at birth

which results in a secure attachment style by the end of the second year of life

(Bowlby, 1988: 11; Isabella, Belsky & von Eye, 1989; Ainsworth, Walters &

Wall, 1978; Greenberg, Cicchetti & Cummings, 1992, Howing, Wodarski,

Kurtz & Gaudin, 1993; Jacobson, Huss & Fendrich, 1997; Moffitt, 1997).

Unfortunately, most sociological research ignores early infant attachment in

attempting to explain deviant behavior. However, Gottfredson & Hirschi’s

326 REBECCA S. KATZ