The Social Family: Sociality and the Ethics of Supporting Families

By Laura Wildemann Kane

This book argues for an inclusive definition of the family that recognizes diverse caregiving relationships and outlines distinct familial and governmental obligations based on a taxonomy of needs. In doing so, it de-emphasizes marriage, biological ties, or shared values as the basis for familial relationship in social and legal contexts.

Author Laura Kane reconceives the family as a unique social group centered on providing intimate care for the mutual flourishing of all its members, regardless of gendered or intergenerational roles or relations. Adopting a care ethics framework, Kane argues that interdependent, intimate caregiving relationships are fundamental to human experience--without such relationships, many of us would encounter difficulties meeting our needs. This account therefore prioritizes families as the starting place for thinking through moral and political obligations, and advocates for state policies that support family caregiving relationships by granting rights, privileges, and protections to groups engaged in intimate, interdependent care.

An important contribution to the philosophy of family structures and their role in society, The Social Family offers a clear and accessible account of its subject for researchers and students in philosophy, sociology, political theory, social work, family therapy, and those engaged in public policy.

Key Features:

Provides a clear definition of the family to ground family policy debates. Situates the family as a unique kind of social group through its purpose and commitment structure, contributing to debates in social ontology. Provides an account of the moral and social obligations of states to support families. Provides a more inclusive account of the family that disentangles marriage and procreation from family identity, reducing gendered role expectations within families.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1041112017
• ISBN13: 9781041112013
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"