Rape and Social Structure
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9213641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaare Svalastoga (University of Copenhagen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1962 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 48-53 |
| Publication date | 1962-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Pacific Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-8919 • E-ISSN: 2330-0736 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1388279 |
| OpenAlex | W62777823 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 3 |
Rape, as shown by J. S. Brown, is a behavior pattern that is nearly universally met by very strong social sanctions.1 Only incest, among sex offenses occurring in modern societies, encounters equally severe and universal social opposition. Rape is commonly defined as enforced coitus.2 But this very definition suggests that there is more to the offense than the use of force alone. This must be so, since no society has equipped itself with the means for measuring the amount of force applied in an act of coitus. Hence, rape, like any other kind of crime, carries a heavy social component. The act itself is not a sufficient criterion. The act must be interpreted as by the female actee, and her interpretation must be similarly evaluated by a number of officials and agencies before the official designation of rape can be legitimately applied. Furthermore, is somewhat unique in that its negative evaluation in public opinion is very frequently extended to the victim as well as the offender. This aspect of the crime is clearly instrumental in reducing the number of such offenses that are brought to the attention of the police. This paper is not primarily concerned with force or the degree of its use in offenses. Rather, it investigates the role of anonymity and of status differentials between offenders and their victims as important components of the social situation that ordinarily accompanies this type of offense. In addition, variations in the sex ratio will be utilized in order to account for the unequal regional distribution of crimes of rape. In formulating hypotheses concerning the variables mentioned, we have used an axiomatic-deductive procedure, assuming that this method will facilitate our search for invariances in the behavior under investigation.4
Criminology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology · Sex work and related issues
Human rape
The social context of rape
The feminist explanation for rape
Twelve reasons why rape is not sexually motivated
Characteristics of rape victims seen in crisis intervention∗
Rape and Social Structure
Note on Rape and Social Structure
Sex Ratios and Rape Rates
The Spatial Analysis of Crime and Delinquency
Is Alaska an Aberration or the Worst Case? A Robust Regression Approach to Understanding Inter-State Variations of Forcible Rape
Four Theories of Rape
A Conflict Theory of Sexual Stratification
The interdisciplinary study of sexual violence
The Self and the Violent Criminal Act
Violent Encounters
Light, puberty, and aggression
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,29 |
| Citation span | 1971 - 2017 (47) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 16 |