This study investigates the dialectic of emancipation and control in the relationship between staff and clients at shelters for battered women. The dialectic of emancipation and control represents the tension shelter workers feel in trying to empower their clients while, at the same time, maintaining control over the programs and domestic order of the shelter. Past research has introduced this dialectic, but no studies exist which view it in the context of the staff/client relationship. Additionally, very little communication research exists exploring the interaction that takes place in shelters for battered women.Four employees of four different shelters were interviewed by this researcher. Their accounts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the constant comparative review method consistent with grounded theory. The workers' accounts indicated that the nature of their profession requires them to be dominant over their clients in five areas. Additionally, the workers discussed four contradictory aspects of their work which reflect the existence of the dialectic of emancipation and control in their interaction with clients. / Department of Speech Communication

This study examined the relationship between reports of controlling behaviors and education/income in a sample of 297 abused women and 2951 non-abused women in married or cohabitating relationships. This study confirmed that women who reported abuse were more likely to report all five of the controlling behaviors than women who did not report abuse. However, the abuse and non-abuse samples did show similar relationships between the controlling/isolating behaviors and the SES variables. This study found that the higher the respondent's or their partner's education and income, the less likely they were to report controlling/isolating behaviors. Also, the respondent's education and income had the same number of statistically significant relationships with the controlling behaviors as the partner's education and income.