The concept `patriarchy', while being vital for feminist analysis, has been criticised for not being able to deal with historical and cross-cultural variation in the forms of women's subordination. This paper presents a new way of theorising patriarchy to meet these objections; one which is flexible enough to take account of its various forms, but rigorous enough to be an effective tool for analysis. It leaves behind base-superstructure models of patriarchy in which there is only one base, which have led to many of the rigidities which have been identified, arguing instead for a model of patriarchy as six partially-interdependent structures. The paper concludes with a discussion of the different forms of patriarchy in recent British history.

Prevalence of inter-personal violence Estimates of incidents of inter-personal violence (year prior to interview) Repeat victimisation Repeat victimisation by the same perpetrator Overlaps between different forms of inter-personal violence 3 The experience of inter-personal violence: impact and meaning Injuries Impacts of different types of acts of domestic violence Impact on employment Is it 'domestic violence'? Is it 'criminal'? Policy perceptions 4 Offenders and relationships Relationship of offender to victim Starting and stopping violent relationships iii 5 Risk factors Gender Socioeconomic Ethnicity Housing tenure Region and area Informal social resources Age Marital status and household structure Health status Criminality of perpetrator 6 Seeking help Who gets told? Police Medical services 7 Comparison with other BCS studies Face-to-face BCS Previous BCS self-completion studies Appendices A Survey design and methodological issues BCS sample design The sample and time periods Response rate Piloting Self-completion Interviewer assistance Gender of interviewer Presence of others Sampling error B Tests for statistical significance of risk factors References Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey P revious self-completion modules on domestic violence (1996 BCS), sexual victimisation (1998 & 2000 BCS) and stalking (1998 BCS) have been included in the British Crime Survey. These studies show prevalence rates for domestic violence, rape and stalking of the same order of magnitude as those reported here. The extent of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking q Inter-personal violence is both widely dispersed and it is concentrated. It is widely dispersed in that some experience of domestic violence (abuse, threats or force), sexual victimisation or stalking is reported by over one third (36%) of people. It is concentrated in that a minority, largely women, suffer multiple attacks, severe injuries, experience more than one form of inter-personal violence and serious disruption to their lives.

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The concept of intersectionality is reviewed and further developed for more effective use. Six dilemmas in the debates on the concept are disentangled, addressed and resolved: the distinction between structural and political intersectionality; the tension between 'categories' and 'inequalities'; the significance of class; the balance between a fluidity and stability; the varyingly competitive, cooperative, hierarchical and hegemonic relations between inequalities and between projects; and the conundrum of 'visibility' in the tension between the 'mutual shaping' and the 'mutual constitution' of inequalities. The analysis draws on critical realism and on complexity theory in order to find answers to the dilemmas in intersectionality theory.

This article contributes to the revision of the concept of system in social theory using complexity theory. The old concept of social system is widely discredited; a new concept of social system can more adequately constitute an explanatory framework. Complexity theory offers the toolkit needed for this paradigm shift in social theory. The route taken is not via Luhmann, but rather the insights of complexity theorists in the sciences are applied to the tradition of social theory inspired by Marx, Weber, and Simmel. The article contributes to the theorization of intersectionality in social theory as well as to the philosophy of social science. It addresses the challenge of theorizing the intersection of multiple complex social inequalities, exploring the various alternative approaches, before rethinking the concept of social system. It investigates and applies, for the first time, the implications of complexity theory for the analysis of multiple intersecting social inequalities.