Information for students, faculty and staff regarding COVID-19. (Updated: 15 April 2021)
Research project The aim of this study is to throw new light upon changes of attitudes to ageing and its interconnection with gender, power and authority in along historical perspective, by analysing abuse of and violence to parents in Sweden during the period 1600–2000.
The silence on the subject is massive. In our society we pay attention to violence in geriatric care, but at the same time rarely notice parents who are violated by their children. In a culture where parenthood is idealized, this kind of punishable offence is strongly connected to shame, not least for the victim. Furthermore, it is not at all obvious that violence to parents should be seen as a punishable offence. The interpretation of these acts – violence as well as abuse – seems to have changed from crime, to pathological symptom, and from pathological symptom to sign of social maladjustment. The aim of this study is to throw new light upon changes of attitudes to ageing and its interconnection with gender, power and authority in along historical perspective, by analysing abuse of and violence to parents in Sweden during the period 1600–2000.