COMMUNICATION AS AN AID TO RESOCIALIZATION A Case Study of a Men’s Anger Group

This article is a case study of a men’s treatment group for batterers. The central question of the study asks how traditionally socialized men participate in a communicatively productive treatment group. In spite of circumstances that at first glance would appear to inhibit posi-tive interaction among its members, the Men’s Anger Group exhibited the characteristics of an effective treatment group and provided the curative factors of a support group. In addi-tion, through shared symbols, rituals, and stories, the members established a culture that resulted in a shared consciousness and, in turn, cohesiveness. Finally, implications of this study suggest that symbolic convergence theory be considered in future research that exam-ines communication occurring in men’s treatment groups. Domestic violence, long accepted by society as a private matter between spouses or domestic partners, has only relatively recently become a public concern. Since the early 1970s, small groups have been used in treating men who batter their partners. The rationale for using men’s therapy groups in general (Stein, 1983) can also be applied to treatment groups for batterers. In a men-only treatment group, men can begin changing themselves by relating to other men in similar circumstances in an environment without women where they can discuss topics that men often find difficult to discuss. The hopeful outcome is that they may gain a better understanding of problems specific to men, and they may learn to relate to women in new ways. The men who participate in treatment groups for batterers usu-ally do so reluctantly, at least in the beginning. Their private behav-ior has become public, and what they have been able to deny or min-imize, they must confront. Instead of blaming their circumstance