Beatings is too harsh of a word. Whoopings or smacks are better. And I see it as a last resort, definitely not something a parent should jump at the opportunity to do so and there's a time and place where it may call for it more than others. Mostly, it's better to discuss with a child what they did wrong, why it's wrong, and express to them not to do it again. In my own experience, I was whooped when I consistently did something bad or if I was violent myself.
Like in 1st grade, me and my friends jumped a kid. So in turn, my dad whooped me on the ass. His logic was, if you go around hitting people, you are bound to be hit back. He also told me that this is how it feels to be hit, but much worse since the other person isn't usually a parent. He explained that I shouldn't go around afflicting pain on others. So from that case, I didn't go around fighting people so I wouldn't get hit by them, or my dad especially, he used a paddle once and that was that Lol. Other times, he'd smack my hands or the back of my head but it was never extreme. It helps with discipline sometimes but it was never something he preferred to do.