Synopses & Reviews
In Family and the Politics of Moderation, Lauren K. Hall argues that the family is a fulcrum upon which societal values balance. Hall describes a set of intermediate institutions that hold the power to alter polarized political and cultural views--churches, religious institutions, local governments, social organizations, and importantly, the family. For Hall the family moderates between broad collectivity and strict individualism. She contends that the family as an intermediate entity wields the strength to guide society between extreme viewpoints, be they social, political, or cultural. Family and the Politics of Moderation thus generates an imperative to ensure the survival of the family as an integral pillar of society.
Review
"Lauren K. Hall has written the definitive study on 'social individualism.' Hall's moderation isn't just a compromise; it reflects the truth we can see with our own eyes through philosophy and science."
--Peter Lawler is Dana Professor of Government and International Studies, Berry College
Review
"With graceful prose and impressive learning, Lauren Hall makes the case for the family as the 'fulcrum' that balances the individualist and collectivist impulses of human beings and thus does justice to individual importance and the social nature of humankind."
--Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College
Synopsis
Family as the balance of society
About the Author
Lauren K. Hall is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology. She lives in Rochester, New York.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Familial Fulcrum
1 Contemporary Liberalism, Human Nature, and the Family
2 Marxism, Collectivism, and the Family
3 Ayn Rand, Individualism, and the Family
4 Montesquieu, Burke, and the Moderate Family
5 Family Forms and the Social Individual
Conclusion: Political Moderation and the Familial Fulcrum
Notes
Bibliography
Index