Civil society: Bringing the family back in
2018
This paper explores the complex and contradictory positioning of the family within civil society
literature. In some accounts, the family is seen as the cornerstone of civil society. In others, the
family is positioned firmly outside – even antithetical to – civil society. This paradox arises from
the ways in which civil society is variously defined through a series of binary oppositions – in
relation to each of which the family sits uneasily. And while feminist critiques have tried to bring
women back into view, they too tend to marginalise the family. In addition, the normative
nature of these oppositions has meant that while civil society tends to be seen as the property
of the political ‘left’, the family is often associated with the political ‘right’. The paper argues
that we need to move beyond oppositional definitions of civil society and assumptions about
the family if we are to understand the multiple ways in which the family is implicated as not
only the ‘reproducer’ of particular resources and dispositions but as a principal source and focus
of civil society engagement and activism.
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