The ill-use of a wife: Patterns of working-class violence in domestic and public New York City...

Argues that patterns of discourse on violence in the working-class community from 1860-1880 expose competing and sometimes contradictory ideas of masculinity and male status within the working class. The idea of masculinity rooted in the machismo of the streets; The idea of masculinity revealed in assaults against wives --rooted in the tradition of male privilege and prerogative; Day of the week domes tic assaults, aggregate; More.