Intersectional analysis of youth violence

and comment to the manual

Prof. Dr. Wassilis Kassis, University Osnabrück, Fachbereich 03 Erziehungs- und Kulturwissenschaften,

Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft

05.+ 06.02.2009 in Berlin

„Peer Think“ International Conference

The starting point Intersection of ethnicity, social status and

gender on violence development. What assumptions underlie intersectional

perspectives in education? Is there any evidence to demonstrate that

ethnicity, class and gender intersect the violence development?

The Complexities of Intersectionality

There are three different approaches to studying intersectionality (Leslie McCall)

Anticategorical Complexity: deconstruction of categorical divisions

Intracategorical Complexity: recognizes the apparent shortcomings of existing social categories and it questions the way in which they draw boundaries of distinction

Intercategorical Complexity: use existing categorical distinctions to document inequality across multiple dimensions

Girls against boys and girlsBoys against boys

Girls

Boys

Faktorenanalyse: Täterinnen-Mädchen Schritt 1

Schritt 3

Schritt 2

Faktorenanalyse: Täter-Jungen: Mädchen/Jungen

Schritt 1

Schritt 2

Häufigkeit Mädchen- Jungengewalt

Faktorenanalyse: Täter-Jungen: Jungen

Schritt 1

Schritt 2

Schritt 3

Components of violence socialization

Violence = f(SDF, SC, Peer, Fam, School, Dom)

SDF Gender, Status, nationality

SC Self concept

Peer Peers-socialization

Fam Family-socialization

School School-socialization

Dom Dominance-orientation

Social Status

SES: SocioEconomicalStatus (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik & Geis, 2003)

Three components (own books, education parents, status of the job of parents) z-standardised

Low SES Middle SES High SES

The empirical way of verifying the

intersectional approach Discriminant analysis (DA): You use DA to identify from a greater list of variables the factors who best characterize the differences among two or more groups. In our analyses we work with two groups: (a) the violent and (b) the non-violent adolescents.

The result of a DA can be used as a function

The data funnelGender, Status, nationality, Self concept, Peers-socialization, Family-socialization, School-socialization, Dominance-orientation

Violent Girls: Personal and social determinants of physical aggression2008-2011

Osnabrueck Youth-Study 2008: Violence in the school

Sample Questionnaire study 2008 Osnabrueck, Northwestern Germnay 779 Adolescents (15-16 years old) 456 students in secondary schools with advanced

classes (n=Realschule) and 323 in secondary schools with basic classes (Hauptschule).

The 335 girls and 438 boys participating in the study were on average 15.5 years old

567 (72.8%) were German and 203 (26.1%) foreigners

Adolescent groups in our intersectional research (each

group 50-80 students)Boys Girls

German girls Migrant girlsGerman boys Migrant boys

High SESGerman boys

High SESMigrant boys

High SESGerman girls

High SESMigrant girls

Middle SESGerman boys

low SESGerman boys

Middle SESMigrant boys

Low SESMigrant boys

Middle SESGerman girls

Low SESGerman girls

Middle SESMigrant girls

Low SESMigrant girls

Adolescents

Boys and Girls

♂ ♀ Total

Violence acceptance

Aggressive teachers

Legitimation of violence

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Alcohol

Accept arguements of peers

Seeking for help

Adopt measures against violence

Victim from boys, verbal aggression

No peer acceptance

Verbal aggression at home between parents

Psychological aggression

Violence in everyday life

Boys Total♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂ ▼ Total

Violence acceptance

Aggressive teachers

Legitimation of violence

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Alcohol

Accept arguements of peers

Seeking for help

Adopt measures against violence

Victim from boys, verbal aggression

No peer acceptance

Verbal aggression at home between parents

Psychological aggression

Violence in everyday life

boys

♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂ ▼ Total

Legitimation of violence

Alcohol

Aggressive teachers

Violence acceptance

Accept peers

Seeking for help

Victim from boys, verbal aggression

Verbal aggression at home between parents

Boys low (♂▼)

♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂ ▼ Total

Alcohol

Legitimation of violence

Aggressive teachers

Accept peers

Violence acceptance

Autonomy and emotional attachment father

Adopt measures against violence

Boys high (♂▲)

♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂▼ Total

Seeking for help

Violence acceptance

Victim from girls, sexual aggression

Legitimation of violence

Verbal aggression at home between parents

Foreign boys low (f♂▼)

♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂▼ Total

Appearance

Psychological aggression

Autonomy and emotional attachment peers

Teachers acceptance

German boys low (g♂▼)

♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ f ♂▼ g ♂▼ Total

Alcohol

Legitimation of violence

Violence acceptance

Victim from girls, violence

Violence in everyday life

Empathy

Factors 8 7 5 4 6Legitimation of violence ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ g ♂▼Alcohol ♂ ♂▼ g ♂▼Aggressive teachers ♂ ♂▼Violence acceptance ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲Accept peers ♂ ♂▼Seeking for help ♂ ♂ ▲Victim from boys, verbal aggression ♂Verbal aggression at home between parents ♂ ♂ ▲

Alcohol ♂ ♂▼ g ♂▼Legitimation of violence ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ g ♂▼Aggressive teachers ♂ ♂▼Accept peers ♂ ♂▼Violence acceptance ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲Autonomy and emotional attachment father ♂▼ f ♂▼Adopt measures against violence ♂▼Seeking for help ♂ ♂ ▲Violence acceptance ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲Victim from girls, sexual aggression ♂ ▲Legitimation of violence ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ g ♂▼Verbal aggression at home between parents ♂ ♂ ▲

Appearance f ♂▼Psychological aggression f ♂▼Autonomy and emotional attachment peers ♂▼ f ♂▼Teachers acceptance f ♂▼Alcohol ♂ ♂▼ g ♂▼Legitimation of violence ♂ ♂▼ ♂ ▲ g ♂▼Violence acceptance g ♂▼Victim from girls, violence g ♂▼Violence in everyday life g ♂▼Empathy g ♂▼

girls♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Violence acceptance

Aggressive teachers Legitimation of violence

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Alcohol

Accept arguements of peers

Seeking for help

Adopt measures against violence

Victim from boys, verbal aggression No peer acceptance

Verbal aggression at home between parents Psychological aggression

Violence in everyday life

girls

♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Violence acceptance

Psychological aggression

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Seeking for help

Friendship Victim from boys, verbal aggression

Victim from girls, sexual aggression

Rigid politics Peer acceptance

Girl low (♀▼)

♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Violence acceptance

Seeking for help

Psychological aggression

Victim from boys, verbal aggression Parental supervision

Girls high (♀▲)

♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Violence acceptance

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Parental supervision

Self concept of ability

Corporal abuse at home

Foreign girls low (f♀▼)

♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Authoriterian parenting

School achievement

Seeking for help

Depression

German girls low (g♀▼)

♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲ f ♀▼ g ♀ ▼ Total

Psychological aggression

Seeking for help

Victim from boys, sexual aggression

Autonomy and emotional attachment father

Factors 9 5 5 4 4

Violence acceptance ♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲

Psychological aggression ♀ ♀▼ g ♀▼Victim from boys, sexual aggression ♀ ♀ ▲

Seeking for help ♀ ♀▼ f ♀▼ g ♀▼Friendship ♀

Victim from boys, verbal aggression ♀ ♀▼Victim from girls, sexual aggression ♀

Rigid politics ♀Peer acceptance ♀

Violence acceptance ♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲

Seeking for help ♀ ♀▼ f ♀▼ g ♀▼Psychological aggression ♀ ♀▼ g ♀▼Victim from boys, verbal aggression ♀ ♀▼Parental supervision ♀▼ ♀ ▲

Violence acceptance ♀ ♀▼ ♀ ▲

Victim from boys, sexual aggression ♀ ♀ ▲

Parental supervision ♀▼ ♀ ▲

Self concept of ability ♀ ▲Corporal abuse at home ♀ ▲

Authoriterian parenting f ♀▼School achievement f ♀▼Seeking for help ♀ ♀▼ f ♀▼ g ♀▼Depression f ♀▼

Psychological aggression ♀ ♀▼ g ♀▼Seeking for help ♀ ♀▼ f ♀▼ g ♀▼Victim from boys, sexual aggression ♀ ♀ ▲ g ♀▼Autonomy and emotional attachment father g ♀▼

Summary

Violence comes in packages. There are no superkids, no superparents and

no superschools. Family, school, personality and peers are

interlinking socialization domains through to violence.

Violence socialization is not just a question for schools or the individual but more a request for the society.

Just knowing that lifewordls of adolescents are complex is not enough.

We have to include a small but diagnostic process through to identify the specific demands ore resources in the life of the youths.

If Intersectionality has to consider the complexity of educational processes practitioners and scientists have to work together.

The structures of dominance is a complex net of interconnections between social class, gender and ethnicity.

If we really like to take the adolescents out of this net we have to do a lot, not just being responsible to changing of attitudes, or zero tolerance of violence acts.

Violence is not just an obscure phenomenon but a maladaptive creation of dominance.

Formation of non-violent behaviour in school and leisure time among youths from violent

families (STAMINA)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

DG Justice, Freedom and Security

2009-2011

Partners Dissens e.V., Germany; Männerberatung Graz, Austria; Peace Institute, Slovenia. Universitat de Girona, Spain;

Research question Research consistently finds a correlation

between psychological and/or physical violence experienced within the family and later violence by youth perpetrators at school

Despite these widely known research results, it cannot be generally assumed that the development of violence among youths at school is causally determined by their social and family backgrounds

Thank you!

Prof. Dr. phil. Wassilis Kassiswassilis.kassis@uni-osnabrueck.de

Universität OsnabrückHeger-Tor-Wall 949069 Osnabrück