Hayek's Modern Family [recurso electrónico] : Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions

Scholars within the Hayekian-Austrian tradition of classical liberalism have done virtually no work on the family as an economic and social institution. In addition, there is a real paucity of scholarship on the place of the family within classical liberal and libertarian political philosophy. Hayek's Modern Family offers a classical liberal theory of the family, taking Hayekian social theory as the main analytical framework. Horwitz argues that families are social institutions that perform certain irreplaceable functions in society. These functions change as economic, political, and social circumstances change, and the family form adapts accordingly, kicking off the next wave of developments in the social structure. In Hayekian terms, the family is an evolving and undesigned social institution. Horwitz offers a non-conservative defense of the family as a social institution against the view that either the state or "the village" is able or required to take over its irreplaceable functions. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction: The Family and Classical Liberalism....Pages 3-19 Two Sorts of Worlds at Once....Pages 21-48 Front Matter....Pages 49-49 The Family in a World of Poverty....Pages 51-77 Capitalism and the Emergence of the Modern Family....Pages 79-100 Gender and Family in the Twentieth Century....Pages 101-134 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Marriage, Divorce, and the Market Process....Pages 137-160 The Family in a World of Abundance....Pages 161-181 Why Parenting Matters: The Importance of Play, Risk, and Failure for Classical Liberalism....Pages 183-205 Front Matter....Pages 207-207 Knowledge, Incentives, and Parental Rights: A Framework for Classical Liberal Family Policy....Pages 209-240 Classical Liberalism and the Contemporary Evolution of Marriage....Pages 241-264 Back Matter....Pages 265-313 "Horwitz has been developing his ideas about classical liberalism and the family for decades. The wait is now over, and it has been well worth it. This highly original and well argued book provides a formidable challenge to all those whose knee-jerk reaction is that a free market society must be bad for families. Let the debates begin!"--Bruce Caldwell, Professor and Director, Center for the History of Political Economy, Duke University, USA"Thank goodness for an economist who understands that all parenting decisions involve risks and rewards, and who defends those of us who refuse to parent from a place of total risk aversion. What a refreshing outlook!"--Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, blog and book