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Sex and the state: will Supporting Families help or harm the family?
Author(s) -
Dennis Norman,
Erdos George
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0270.00169
Subject(s) - harm , contradiction , state (computer science) , human sexuality , politics , sociology , confusion , public opinion , family values , social psychology , family life , political science , epistemology , psychology , law , gender studies , psychoanalysis , algorithm , computer science , philosophy
The Green Paper, Supporting Families , is a remarkable hotchpotch of conceptual confusion, logical contradiction and empirical obtuseness. Its message is that there is little to choose between the socially supported institutional family of life‐long monogamy and any private arrangement for handling sexuality, procreation and child‐rearing, the state claiming that it can and will deal with the problems. But Supporting Families merely echoes the ‘arguments,’ and reflects the prejudices, of anti‐family commentators in politics, education, pressure groups and the media. The personal, social and economic problems of the dismemberment of the institutional family will not be solved until public opinion rejects this consensual muddle.