The theoretical focus is on three of the most frequently discussed explanation of differences between societies regarding rate of wife beating. The feminist patriarchal society theory and the conflict theory concern social stratification, whereas the third theory focuses on social integration versus disorganization. Husband-to-wife assault rates were regressed on indexes to measure gender equality, income inequality, and social disorganization plus variables controlling for percent of population residing in urban areas, percent of blacks of a State population, percent of population between 18-24 years of age, percent single males age 15, and percent of the paid labor force unemployed. Analyses of data showed significant relationships using the gender equality and social disorganization indexes. On the other hand, income inequality was not related to the rate of wife assault. These findings are consistent with the feminist theory and social disorganization and control theories of deviance. In particular, these data show that the greater the degree of inequality between men and women and the greater the extent of social disorganization, the higher the rate of assault on wives. 29 references, 4 notes, 4 tables, and 3 figures