The Structuring Process of the Social Representation of Violence in Abusive Men

This paper examines the process of the emergence of new social representation among abusive men vis-à-vis their own behavior. The discussion focuses on a group of 65 men who were sent to a closed hostel (Beit Noam) for intensive therapy for habitual violence. The paper argues that there was no possibility of the existence of such a representation at the beginning of therapy because there was no relevant group to create the discourse necessary for the structuring of social representations. The creation of the group and the ensuing discourse helped the men construct a social representation of their own violence. Such a representation enabled them to complete therapy successfully.