What Is a Family? : Law and Regulation in a Transdisciplinary Context.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Albertson Fineman, Martha.

Series:

Law, Society, Policy Series

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (295 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Bristol University Press, 2026.

Summary:

How families are formed, lived and understood has shifted dramatically--yet legal frameworks often still reflect outdated norms.This collection brings together a diverse team of international contributors to explore what a family is through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including law, psychology, economics, family science and history.

Contents:

Front Cover

Series Information

Law and Regulation in a Transdisciplinary Context

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

Series Editor Preface

List of Figures and Tables

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgements

Foreword

1 Introduction: What Is a Family?

1.1. Setting the Scene

1.2. The Book's Structure

1.3. Emerging Common Threads

Part I Unsettling Traditional Paradigms

2 What Is a Family? A Feminist Family Science Perspective

2.1. A Reflection on Family: It's Personal, It's Political, but It's Not Always Legal

2.2. A Tale of Two Fathers-​in-​law

2.3. Family as Lived Experience

2.4. A Feminist Perspective on Families: Critical and Intersectional

2.4.1. Critical

2.4.2. Intersectional

2.5. Being and Doing Family: Some Common Features

2.5.1. Families are diverse and complex

2.5.2. Families are developmental

2.5.3. Families are systemic

2.5.4. Families are emotional

2.6. Conclusion

3 The Legal Family

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Subsequent Legislative Reforms

3.2.1. 'No-fault divorce'

3.2.2. Mixed-​sex civil partnership

3.3. Potential Legislative Reforms

3.3.1. Surrogacy arrangements

3.3.2. Cohabitants rights in Scotland

3.4. Trans Parenthood

3.5. Conclusion

4 The Family and Its Disruption by Transgender Families:​ A Study of the Cases of 'Nigel and Beth' and 'Christina and Kimberly'

4.1. Introduction

4.2. Methodology

4.3. Nigel and Beth

4.3.1. Oscillating identities

4.3.2. Negotiating new sex/​gender identities

4.3.3. Confidence in new identities

4.3.4. Spatial separation from cis intimates facilitates transition

4.3.5. Beth's healing of her transitional grief

4.3.6. Life at the borders of heterosexual theory for Nigel and Beth

4.3.7. The public-​private dichotomy of intimacy.

4.3.8. Authoritative sources of knowledge

4.4. Christina and Kimberly

4.4.1. Negotiating new sex/​gender identities

4.4.2. Accommodating the new sex/​gender identifications

4.4.3. Life at the borders of heterosexual theory for Christina and Kimberly

4.5. Discussion

Part II Regulating Personal Relationships through and beyond Marriage

5 Marriage and Family Formation at the Intersection of Law and History

5.1. Introduction: Recent Contests over Marriage Laws

5.2. The Changing Politics of Marriage Law: State, Religion, Household

5.2.1. Marriage and power relations in the earliest known law codes

5.2.2. Marriage between secular and religious law during Europe's Christianisation

5.2.3. Not over yet: the ongoing debates over consent

5.3. Political Economy and Marriage Law in the Context of State Building and Economic Modernization: A Comparison of Europe and China

5.4. The History of Race as a Site of Legal Contests over Marriage

5.4.1. Marriage laws and practices in European colonial regimes

5.4.2. Marriage redefined in Nazi law

5.4.3. Race and marriage in the twentieth-​century United States

5.5. Conclusion: Back to the Present-​day Debates over Same-​sex Marriage

6 What Is a 'European Family'?

6.1. An Introduction and an Assumption Based on Two Things

6.2. Divorce as a Unifying Factor?

6.3. New Divisions Replace the Old Ones

6.4. (Dead) Pan-​Europeanism

6.5. Despite All That: Elements of a 'European Family' Exist

7 Why Should the State Recognize Non-​conjugal Unions? An Analysis of the Debate around their Legal Recognition

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Methodology

7.3. Results

7.3.1. Overall structure of arguments

7.3.2. Autonomy

7.3.3. Equality through comparison

7.3.3.1. Functional similarity with coupledom/​marriage.

7.3.3.2. Differentiation from coupledom/​marriage

7.3.4. Utility

7.3.5. Empirical

7.3.6. Historicizing

7.3.7. Sociolegal values

7.4. Discussion

7.5. Conclusion

Part III Empirical Approaches to Defining Families

8 What Is a Family? A Developmental Psychology Perspective

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Attachment Theory

8.2.1. Ethological attachment theory

8.2.2. Individual differences in attachment theory

8.2.3. Factors affecting individual differences in attachment

8.2.4. Advances in attachment theory

8.2.5. Attachment theory and its applications for children and the family

8.3. Going beyond the Dyad: Family Systems Theory

8.3.1. Family systems theory: key principles

8.3.2. Subsystems within the family

8.3.3. Executive subsystem: co-​parenting

8.3.4. Family systems theory: the family unit

8.3.5. Family systems theory: divorce and step-​families

8.4. Situating the Family in Wider Systems: The Bioecological Model

8.4.1. Bioecological model: key principles

8.5. New Family Forms

8.5.1. Genetic and gestational relatedness and disclosure decisions

8.5.2. Diversity within family research

8.6. Conclusion

9 A Feminist Economist's Perspective on Marriage Laws

9.1. Introduction

9.2. Two Case Studies

9.2.1. Case 1: Comparing the prevalence of single motherhood before and after the abolition of coverture in the US

9.2.2. Case 2: Comparing prevalence of single motherhood before and after passage of Community Property rules in case of divorce

9.2.3. Discussion

9.3. Conclusion

10 Family Ideals across Cultures

10.1. Introduction

10.2. Theories of Family Change and Our Approach

10.3. Vignette Study in Eight Low Fertility Countries

10.4. Results of Statistical Models: Commonalities and Differences across Countries.

10.4.1. Pooled estimates of eight countries

10.4.2. Country-​specific estimates

10.5. Conclusion

Part IV Rethinking the Family of Law

11 The Legal Family as a Child Development Incubator

11.1. Introduction

11.2. The Convention, Families, and Child Development

11.2.1. Family structure

11.2.2. Family objectives

11.3. Function and Form at the Intersection of Family Law and Child Development

11.4. Functions of the Legal Family

11.5. Parental Responsibility, Family Objectives, and Children's Rights

11.6. Rethinking Family Function and Form

12 From Folkhemmet to Post-​welfare Sweden: Rethinking Care and Dependency in a Neoliberal Context

12.1. Introduction

12.2. The Folkhemmet Legacy: From Collectivist Ideals to Embedded Dependency

12.2.1. Revisiting Folkhemmet : state-​embedded solidarity and its limits

12.2.2. The 'autonomous family' myth: structural exclusion and ongoing inequities

12.2.3. The neoliberal turn and the fragmentation of the welfare model

12.2.4. Marketizing care: privatization and socio-​economic divides

12.2.5. Formal equality's legal footprint in neoliberal care

12.3. A Theoretical Critique of Swedish Family Governance: The Vulnerability Lens

12.4. Toward a Responsive State

12.4.1 . Institutionalizing caregiving as public responsibility

12.4.2. Structuring care: institutional and workplace protection

12.4.3. Reconfiguring mediation

12.5. Conclusion: Implications for Future Reforms

13 Loneliness and Care: Rethinking the Role of Family Law

13.1. Introduction

13.2. Traditional Understandings of Family Law and Current Challenges

13.3. Care

13.3.1. Promotion of care

13.3.2. Sharing costs of caring

13.3.3. The protective function

13.3.4. Care-​based parenthood

13.4. Loneliness

13.4.1. Definition of loneliness.

13.4.2. A right to social relationships

13.4.3. Family law responses to loneliness

13.4.3.1. Promotion/​creation

13.4.3.2. Enabling

13.4.3.3. Removing barriers

13.4.4. New values for family law

13.5. Conclusion

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5292-4636-9

9781529246360

OCLC:

1574805881