Analyzing Domestic Violence in Pakistan through Social Power Abuse Theory

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to scrutinize different societal factors involved in domestic violence against women in Pakistan applying Van Dijk’s postulates of social power abuse. The contents for the study are collected from some documentaries on the issue of domestic violence. The documentaries were selected through purposive sampling approach. The analysis shows that the discursive techniques used by respondents engaged in domestic violence as perpetrators and victims is investigated and analysis has been done on three aspects of the discourse to cover it thoroughly. It is pointed out that those who commit domestic violence cast the entirety of the blame on the victim's character and propagate the idea that women merely play with their men's dignity, Thus, they ought to compensate for it by enduring such abuse. Agents therefore attempted to justify their actions through language and discourse. Previous studies on similar crimes against women tended to concentrate on the problem and the state of the victims and paid little attention to the language characteristics of the perpetrator and the victim, but this study is significant because it shows how different ideologies are conveyed and power relations are exercised through discourse.