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A review by amalgamemnon
The Anti-Social Family by Michele Barrett, Mary McIntosh
4.0
Although dated in places (and the authors' summary, written 10 years after original publication, goes some way to redress this), this is a really good, clear introductory critique of the family. Written at the height of Thatcherism there is obviously some focus on blatantly anti-feminist, family-centred social policy - there's a broad focus on the ideology of familialism, where the family arrangement is prioritised as the primary source of childrearing, care and domestic labour, which is very enlightening.
I really liked the chapter that looked at Donzelot's book - a Foucauldian deconstruction of the family, looking at a shift from government of the family to government through the family. The authors are methodologically sympathetic, but the political motivations of this work are masked behind a false universalism and are ultimately anti-feminist. I'd still like to read it, or a more updated version of a Foucauldian family analysis. It feels like such a natural fit for Foucauldians that I'm surprised it's not more prevalent!
The summary of psychoanalytical thinking on the family is great - it's not an area I'm familiar with and this was really well done.
The authors themselves acknowledge the ethnocentrism of their analyses - their experience of white families in Britain is not made explicit, and so they run the risk of centring this. And this is despite being keen to indicate the historical specificity of their work in other sections - it's surprising that they didn't also bracket their experience and examples in other ways (i.e. with regards to ethnicity or cultural experience). But I think this book would be a really good starting point for more specific analyses. I'd like to read more!
I really liked the chapter that looked at Donzelot's book - a Foucauldian deconstruction of the family, looking at a shift from government of the family to government through the family. The authors are methodologically sympathetic, but the political motivations of this work are masked behind a false universalism and are ultimately anti-feminist. I'd still like to read it, or a more updated version of a Foucauldian family analysis. It feels like such a natural fit for Foucauldians that I'm surprised it's not more prevalent!
The summary of psychoanalytical thinking on the family is great - it's not an area I'm familiar with and this was really well done.
The authors themselves acknowledge the ethnocentrism of their analyses - their experience of white families in Britain is not made explicit, and so they run the risk of centring this. And this is despite being keen to indicate the historical specificity of their work in other sections - it's surprising that they didn't also bracket their experience and examples in other ways (i.e. with regards to ethnicity or cultural experience). But I think this book would be a really good starting point for more specific analyses. I'd like to read more!