The Golden Chain

The family can be viewed as one of the links in a “golden chain” connecting individuals, the private sphere, civil society, and the democratic state; as potentially an important source of energy for social activity; and as the primary institution that socializes and diffuses the values and norms that are of fundamental importance for civil society. Yet much of the literature on civil society pays very little attention to the complex relations between civil society and the family. These two spheres constitute a central element in democratic development and culture and form a counterweight to some of the most distressing aspects of modernity, such as the excessive privatization of home life and the unceasing work-and-spend routines. This volume offers historical perspectives on the role of families and their members in the processes of a liberal and democratic civil society, the question of boundaries and intersections of the private and public domains, and the interventions of state institutions.

List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments

Editor’s Preface
Dieter Gosewinkel and Jürgen Kocka

Part I: Introduction and Overview

Introduction
Jürgen Nautz, Paul Ginsborg, and Ton Nijhuis

Chapter 1. Uncharted Territories: Individuals, Families, Civil Society and the Democratic State
Paul Ginsborg

Part II: Feminist Historical Views

Chapter 2. Gendered Boundaries. Civil Society, the Public/Private Divide and the Family
Karen Hagemann

Chapter 3. The Family, Civil Society, and Social Policy: a U.S. Perspective
Sonya Michel

Chapter 4. Feminist Mobilization and Family Change: a Case Study of a Grassroots Women’s Organization in Quebec
Anne Revillard

Part III: Family and Society in South and Western Europe – Case Studies

Chapter 5. Corporate Birthmarks of Civil Society: Kinship and Kinship Networks in Voluntary Associations, 1800–1848
Carola Lipp

Chapter 6. State, Society and Family Change in 20th Century Spain: the Evolution of the ‘Strong Family-Model’
Elisa Chuliá

Chapter 7. The Foundation of Civilized Society: Family and Social Policy in Britain and Italy between 1946 and 1960
Stefania Bernini

Chapter 8. Children and Civil Society
John Keane

Part IV: State and changing families in Eastern Europe and the Middle East

Chapter 9. The Failures of Modernity: Family, Civil Society and State in the Passage from Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic
Ayşe Saraçgil

Chapter 10. Israel and Palestine through Family, Civil Society and State. An Overview
Marcella Simoni

Chapter 11. Gendered Boundaries between the State, Family and Civil Society – the Case of Poland after 1989
Elżbieta Korolcuk

Chapter 12. Family Structures and Civil Society Perspectives in Present-day Serbia
Dragica Vujadinovic

Notes on Contributors
Index