The Anti-Social Family

Sensitive but uncompromising socialist-feminist critique of the nuclear family

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.Despite much talk of its decline, the nuclear family persists as a structure central to contemporary society, a fact to be lamented, according to the ideas of Michèle Barrett and Mary McIntosh. The Anti-social Family dissects the network of household, kinship and sexual relations that constitute the family form in advanced capitalist societies to show how they reinforce conditions of inequality. This classic work explores the personal and social needs that the family promises to meet but more often denies, and proposes moral and political practices for more egalitarian caring alternatives.