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6 J. Fam. Violence 1 (1991)

handle is hein.journals/jfamv6 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1991 Physically Violent Husbands of the 1890s and Their Resources David Peterson' This article applies Goode's Resource Theory of wife beating to Lane County, Oregon from 1891 to 1900. The sample population consists of 56 women who appeared in divorce suits and claimed that their husbands had physically abused them. The study's findings largely support Resource Theory, although biases in the sample population make it more suggestive than conclusive. Wife beaters of the 1890s tended to be relatively low in economic and social resour- ces, particularly when compared to their wives. The violent husbands' resources appear particularly slight when their psychological resources are considered. The article closes by suggesting that Resource Theory is not necessarily at odds with feminist interpretations of wife battering. Social scientists who assert that husbands' physical violence is more likely when their dominance is pronounced rather than fragile need to define more carefully and detect the actual level of power and resources that particular husbands enjoy. KEY WORDS: male batterers; Resource Theory; domestic violence history. INTRODUCTION Goode's (1971) Resource Theory is one of the most influential ex- planations of spouse abuse in scholarly literature (Allen and Straus, 1980; Gordon, 1988; Hanmer, 1978; Hotaling and Straus, 1980; Rodman, 1972). According to Goode, physical force is but one of several resources that husbands employ to exercise influence in the family; money, prestige, and likability are also key marital resources. Goode argues that husbands prefer these less blatant means of coercion, since naked physical force can cost a man respect and affection. 'Department of History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403. 1 0085-7482/91/0300-0001$06.50/0 O 1991 Plenum Publishing Corportion