Dyadic Death: Homicide followed by Suicide in Yorkshire and the Humber by Marilyn J Gregory
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Marilyn J Gregory's presentation from the British Sociological Association Death, Dying and Bereavement Symposium - November 2009
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Dyadic Death: Homicide followed by Suicide in Yorkshire and the Humber by Marilyn J Gregory
Editor's Notes
- Could the interactive map with incidents on go here.
- COULD THIS DATA BE DISPLAYED MORE INVENTIVELY – Pie chart or similar??
- The blue line is socio-economic status in Y&H by percentage of the working age population. (source NS-SEC, summer 2003) The green line is perpetrators in cohort 1, the red line cohort two. Numbers in the cohorts are small, so that percentages must be viewed cautiously. What is most clearly indicated is that in both cohorts HS perpetrators are clustered within the lower supervisory, semi routine and routine occupations more frequently than the general population. Fewer HS perpetrators in are unemployed in cohort one compared with the general population, but in cohort two numbers of unemployed perpetrators are similar to the general population. However, both cohorts have far fewer unemployed perpetrators when compared to homicide more generally as noted by both Brookman and Dobash and Dobash.
- The red line shows percentage real GDP growth from 1970-2009. The source is Background to the 2009 Budget 9 April 2009 Dominic Webb, Economic Policy and Statistics Section, House of Commons Library
- Hegemonic masculinity is supported in the last instance by violence, and the understanding of domestic violence which follows is that it is ‘the end game of a range of behaviours designed to intimidate women, from wolf whistling in the street to office harassment’ Connell 1995: 83). Violence against women also enables marginalised masculinities, like working class men, to assert their power. As Messerschmidt (1993: 85) puts it ‘crime by men is a form of social practice invoked as a resource, when other resources are unavailable, for accomplishing masculinity’. This explanation helps us to understand not only the behaviour of working class men who commit the bulk of homicides, but applies to the case with which this article opens. It emerged following initial press reports that the suspect, a businessman, used to being in control in both the business and domestic spheres, was on the day following the deaths, about to be visited by bailiffs who would have removed almost all of his valuable possessions following the financial collapse of his business empire. His final act of asserting his masculinity was to destroy everything of value, both financial and emotional. This links to two further aspects of masculinity theory which are central to the analysis of male violence. Firstly the importance of bodily experience, which as Connell puts it is ‘often central in memories of our own lives and thus in understanding who are what we are’ (1995:53). He argues that through ‘body reflexive practices’ such as sport, work, sex and illness, ‘bodies are addressed by social processes and drawn into history without ceasing to be bodies’ (1995:64). These practices are onto-formative; that is they construct the social world. The ability to perform in certain ways exemplifies gender, so for example a working class man’s fit body is an economic asset. The materiality of the body is important; it is not merely a symbol. If the body is impaired by ill-health it diminishes his capacity to accomplish masculinity within the economic sphere. Secondly, an aspect of masculinity theory which has been developed by Jefferson in particular is the psycho-social dimension which pays attention to the development of masculine subjectivity. Jefferson (1994, 2002) argues that it is essential to understand the internal psychological processes of identity formation which are different for men and women and which often render men deeply psychologically vulnerable when they become involved in an important emotional relationship. In this case the perpetrator chooses complete bodily destruction of himself and everyone dear to him rather than contemplate the emotional consequences of his financial collapse.
- The anger which is often associated with male violence is clearly evident in some of the cases whilst others display tendencies toward ‘misguided altruism’. Whilst society condemns this behaviour, there is societal support for the male violence which underpins masculinity. State power, wielded chiefly by men, is underpinned in the last instance by the formalised violence of the military and the police (Connell 1995). Public attitudes to male violence occurring outside these formalised areas are also ambivalent and this is revealed in research on domestic abuse and rape where women are viewed by perpetrators and others as somehow to blame as victims. The man’s violence is justified as a response to the woman’s behaviour (Dobash et al 1979, 1992).