Coercive Control Through Religious Authority: Intimate Partner Violence in the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Community

While intimate partner violence (IPV) has increasingly been examined in religious collectivist contexts, limited theoretical attention has been given to culturally embedded patterns of coercive control within such settings. This study examines IPV against ultra-Orthodox (UO) Jewish women in Israel, asking: What culturally embedded mechanisms characterize this violence, and how do UO social workers interpret them? Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 16 UO social workers (nine women and seven men) with professional training and insider cultural knowledge, thematic analysis identified recurring non-physical patterns of domination. IPV appeared to operate through four culturally structured mechanisms: silent treatment, spiritual coercion, sexism, and financial control, all within a pervasive climate of emotional violence. These findings extend coercive control scholarship by distinguishing between macro-level communal rewards and micro-level interpersonal recognition within patriarchal bargains, demonstrating how their divergence may produce layered entrapment in religious collectivist settings. More broadly, the study situates IPV within intersecting structures of gendered and minority marginalization and highlights how symbolic religious authority may function as a culturally legitimate way of sustaining domination even in the absence of physical violence or material dependency.