Journal article
When Vocabularies of Motive Fail: The Example of Fatal Child Abuse
Qualitative sociology, Vol.13(4), pp.373-385
01/01/1990
DOI: 10.1007/BF00989410
Abstract
Many social theorists emphasize people's capacity for empathic understanding, shared meanings, & forgiveness, arguing that norm violators can achieve social redemption by offering excuses & justifications. Here, this argument is refuted, based on evidence from the case records of caretakers accused of killing their children (N = 40 cases). Findings show that the majority did not try to explain their actions by invoking excuses & justifications; they either pretended they had no idea what happened to the child or constructed a fictional cause of the child's death that made themselves appear innocent. The minority who attempted to explain why they killed a child received little or no forgiveness. These findings show that some norm violations cannot be translated into acceptable vocabularies of motive. 1 Table, 21 References. Adapted from the source document.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- When Vocabularies of Motive Fail: The Example of Fatal Child Abuse
- Creators
- Leslie Margolin - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Qualitative sociology, Vol.13(4), pp.373-385
- DOI
- 10.1007/BF00989410
- ISSN
- 0162-0436
- eISSN
- 1573-7837
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/1990
- Academic Unit
- Counselor Education
- Record Identifier
- 9984371271902771
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