Ebook: War Over Family - Capturing Middle Ground

In recent decades, in America and in other Western countries, there has been a vociferous debate over the history, the present condition, the prospects, and - most importantly - the human and societal value of the family. This debate has been especially focused on what has been called, usually with derogatory intent, the 'bourgeois family'. This book is a lively and controversial addition to the debate. It shows the importance of the evolution of the family to the rise of the modern state, and argues for the continuing centrality of that role. Brigitte and Peter Berger first present the three basic contemporary views of the family: the call from the left and from feminists for radical change; the movement that has reacted strongly in support of the beleaguered family; and the alleged value-free analysis of the social scientists. The authors are convinced that there exists a middle ground towards which most people instinctively gravitate in matters concerning the family. Their own value judgements are persuasively clear: 'We believe in the basic legitimacy of the bourgeois family historically as well as today, both in term of morality and in terms of the requirements of a free polity'.