The Anti-Social Family

The Anti-Social Family

by Michèle Barrett and Mary McIntosh

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    176 pages / 4 March 2025 / 9781804299593

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  • Paperback (1991)

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    178 pages / October 1991 / 9780860915454

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  • Paperback (2015)

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    176 pages / January 2015 / 9781781687598

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    January 2015 / 9781781687604

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Why we need to break free from the persistent tyranny of the nuclear family

The stereotypical nuclear family is in the minority of households, yet remains a powerful ideology. This
classic of socialist feminism charts how the family reinforces conditions of inequality, and asks: Why does the family enjoy such popular support, including by feminists and the left? Despite its many problems, The Anti-social Family answers, the family meets real needs. These needs must be taken seriously, and alter-native ways to meet them developed, giving people more choices and collectively taking on the work and responsibilities currently privatised within the family.

Reviews

  • Barrett and McIntosh incisively question the standard marxist (and mainstream) claims that (1) the nuclear family is suited to the functional requirements of the capitalist mode of production, and (2) the family has declined and much of its work is now undertaken by the state.

    The Women's Review of Books

  • Michele Barrett and Mary McIntosh have written an extremely brave, and with the benefit of hindsight, what must appear to be a very daring critique of the family.

    Sociology