The Family in Question: Changing households and familiar ideologies

218 Pages·1993·19.993 MB·English

by  Diana Gittins (auth.)

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editorial advisory group
Maria Brenton, University College, Cardiff; Phillida Bunckle,
Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand; Miriam David,
Polytechnic of the South Bank; Leonore Davidoff, University
of Essex; Janet Finch, University of Lancaster; Jalna Hanmer,
University of Bradford; Beverley Kingston, University of New
South Wales, Australia; Hilary Land, University of Bristol;
Diana Leonard, University of London Institute of Education;
Susan Lonsdale, Polytechnic of the South Bank; Jean O'Barr,
Duke University. North Carolina, USA; Arlene Tigar McLaren,
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada; Jill Roe,
Macquarie University, Australia; Hilary Rose, University of
Bradford; Susan Sellers, CentreD' Etudes Feminines, Universite
de Paris; Pat Thane, Goldsmiths' College, University of
London; Clare Ungerson, University of Kent at Canterbury;
Judy Walkowitz, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
The last 20 years have seen an explosion of publishing by, about
and for women. This list is designed to make a particular
contribution to this continuing process by commissioning and
publishing books which consolidate and advance feminist res
earch and debate in key areas in a form suitable for students,
academics and researchers but also accessible to a broader
general readership.
As far as possible, books will adopt an international perspective
incorporating comparative material from a range of countries
where this is illuminating. Above all they will be interdisciplin
ary, aiming to put women's studies and feminist discussion firmly
on the agenda in subject-areas as disparate as law, literature, art
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The Family in Question
Changing households and familiar ideologies
Second Edition
Diana Gittins
M
MACMILLAN
© Diana Gittins 1985, 1993
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published 1985
Reprinted 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991
Second edition 1993
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS L TO
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-54570-6 ISBN 978-1-349-22591-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22591-0
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
For my sister,
Cynthia Lloyd Bailes
Contents
vii
Acknowledgements
Editor's introduction Vlll
Introduction: questioning the family 1
1. How have families changed? 6
2. Is patriarchy relevant in understanding families? 35
3. What is the family? Is it universal? 60
4. Why do people marry? 73
5. Why do people have children? 92
6. Why is a woman's work never done? 112
7. The State: creator or destroyer of family solidarity? 133
8. Is the family in a state of crisis? 155
9. Why do men abuse children sexually? 169
Notes 183
Bibliography 186
Index 202
Acknowledgements
I would first like to thank· Frances Arnold, my editor at Macmillan,
for the patience, encouragement and support she has given me
throughout the preparation of this edition. I would also like to take
this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the Open University
Women's Studies course team who have offered all kinds of useful
support and advice over the past year, especially Felicity Edholm and
Linda Janes. I am particularly blessed with good friends who are an
invaluable source of inspiration and support to me and I should
particularly like to acknowledge my continuing thanks to Joan Bus
field, Leonore Davidoff, Frankie Finn, Emily Gittins (both a friend
and a daughter) and Sarah Hopkins.
VII
Editor's introduction
In this timely book Diana Gittins aims to provide a radically new
perspective on the family using recent feminist and historical re
search. Using a variety of sources, it questions many widely held
theories and concepts of the family and challenges the idea that
there is such a thing as the family at all.
It is argued that we need to see the family as a controversial
political issue which is much misunderstood because of the failure to
differentiate adequately between the ideology of the family and the
reality of the variety of ways in which men and women, boys and
girls, live and interact together. The ideology has to be seen as a
historical creation of the urban bourgeoisie which has been a useful
and central political tool since the early nineteenth century.
Moreover, the gap between the ideology and the reality is arguably
a key reason for what is usually perceived as a 'crisis in the family'.
The popular notion that there is a 'modem' egalitarian family
type is challenged directly. Historical and contemporary evidence
shows that the only real defining characteristic of families is their
variability. Feminist research has brought the salience of inequality
between the sexes, and between adults and children, to the centre of
debates on families through the concept of patriarchy. The prevalence
of patriarchal relations, past and present, makes the notion of there
being an egalitarian family totally untenable.
This book aims to 'deconstruct' many popular myths surrounding
the family by raising a number of questions central to the concept
itself. These include: How have families changed? Why do people
marry? Why do people have children? Does the State reinforce or
destroy family solidarity? Why is a woman's work never done? Is
the family in a state of crisis?
viii
Editor's introduction ix
The idea of writing the book arose out of an increasing dissatis
faction with the inadequacy of (and prevalence of) outdated texts
on the family, almost invariably influenced by functionalist theory,
which students still rely on heavily. Few such books integrate recent
feminist theory adequately, if at all. It was also felt that there was a
real need to try to bring together findings from a variety of fields
which, while all relating to families, are seldom brought together in
one volume. Thus feminist writers have tended to ignore the
findings of historical demographers, and vice versa; sociologists and
historians tend to ignore one another's works; family historians
neglect the findings of feminist historians, and so on. By drawing
together material from a variety of fields and sources, Diana Gittins
has provided a radically different, easily readable and up-to-date
synthesis and reconsideration of families in Western society in both
the past and the present.
JO CAMPLING
Editor
Introduction: questioning the family
Some argue that the family is the foundation of society, indeed of
civilisation itself. Others maintain it is the source of most of our
problems and unhappiness. These words began the first edition of this
book and now, seven years later, they still hold. In that time,
however, much has happened that has brought the political issues
surounding the family more into public focus and debate than ever
before.
At a press conference on 14 March 1986 Graham Webster-Gardiner
said:
The Conservative Family Campaign aims to put father back at the
head of the family table. He should be the breadwinner. He should
be responsible for his children's actions. He should be respected by
those who teach his children. He should be upheld by social
workers, doctors and others who may professionally come into
contact with the children ....
A year later, between January 1987 and March 1988, 545 complaints
of suspected child sexual abuse were referred to Cleveland Council.
Action was taken to protect 265 of them. At least one-third of the
perpetrators were the children's biological fathers. The average age of
the children was 6.9 years (Campbell, 1988, pp. 1 and 9). Since then
controversy has raged about children's rights, parents' rights and the
role of the state and state agencies. The issue will not lie down. Since
the Cleveland crisis, more and more instances of child sexual abuse
have been reported, including alleged ritual, or 'Satanic', abuse.