Battered Wives: The Home as a Total Institution

Abstract

This paper is based on research which examined the lives of Israeli battered women from the phenomenological aspect. Thirty-five unstructured interviews were carried out in a shelter for battered women. The women’s accounts suggest that the situation of battered women resembles that of inmates of total institutions, as defined by Goffman (1961). Physical barriers are imposed upon them, and they go through a process of mortification of the self which begins soon after the marriage. Compulsory confinement to the house damages the self and diminishes the ability to cope. Furthermore, it cuts the women off from external sources of physical help and moral support. Increased understanding of this harsh reality would benefit the social agencies engaged in helping battered women.