This multi-faceted book combines theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to explore how family law is responding to the ever-changing social dynamics of the family. Bringing together a broad range of experts with innovative perspectives from across the globe, Rethinking Law's Families and Family Law highlights family law's current challenges and presents key avenues for future research.
Over the past thirty years, there has been a dramatic shift in the way the legal system approaches and resolves family disputes. Traditionally, family law dispute resolution was based on an “adversary” system: two parties and their advocates stood before a judge who determined which party was at fault in a divorce and who would be awarded the rights in a custody dispute. Now, many family courts are opting for a “problem-solving” model in which courts attempt to resolve both legal and non-legal issues. At the same time, American families have changed dramatically. Divorce rates have leveled off and begun to drop, while the number of children born and raised outside of marriage has increased sharply. Fathers are more likely to seek an active role in their children’s lives. While this enhanced paternal involvement benefits children, it also increases the likelihood of disputes between parents. As a result, the families who seek legal dispute resolution have become more diverse and their legal situations more complex. In Divorced from Reality, Jane C. Murphy and Jana B. Singer argue that the current "problem solving" model fails to address the realities of today's families. The authors suggest that while today’s dispute resolution regime may represent an improvement over its more adversary predecessor, it is built largely around the model of a divorcing nuclear family with lawyers representing all parties—a model that fits poorly with the realities of today's disputing families. To serve the families it is meant to help, the legal system must adapt and reshape itself.
In Reconstructing the Household, Peter Bardaglio examines the connections between race, gender, sexuality, and the law in the nineteenth-century South. He focuses on miscegenation, rape, incest, child custody, and adoption laws to show how southerners struggled with the conflicts and stresses that surfaced within their own households and in the larger society during the Civil War era. Based on literary as well as legal sources, Bardaglio's analysis reveals how legal contests involving African Americans, women, children, and the poor led to a rethinking of families, sexuality, and the social order. Before the Civil War, a distinctive variation of republicanism, based primarily on hierarchy and dependence, characterized southern domestic relations. This organic ideal of the household and its power structure differed significantly from domestic law in the North, which tended to emphasize individual rights and contractual obligations. The defeat of the Confederacy, emancipation, and economic change transformed family law and the governance of sexuality in the South and allowed an unprecedented intrusion of the state into private life. But Bardaglio argues that despite these profound social changes, a preoccupation with traditional notions of gender and race continued to shape southern legal attitudes.
In a world that is often ruled by buyers and sellers, those things that are often considered priceless become objects to be marketed and from which to earn a profit.
Rethinking Political Thinkers explores a uniquely diverse set of political thinkers, from traditionally canonical theorists such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Mill, to marginalized women and thinkers of color, such as hooks, Du Bois, Butler, Fanon, Firestone, Said, and Goldman. Placing traditional thinkers alongside and in conversation with neglected and unheard voices opens up important debates, and presents political thought in a new light. Each thinker is examined within the contexts of patriarchy, white supremacy, and imperialism, and the relations and structures of race, gender, and class which different theories have reflected, defended, or challenged. The text is organized thematically, rather than simply chronologically, in order to explore central ideas such as social contract theory and its critics, freedom and revolution, the liberal self and black consciousness, colonial domination, and the environment. In each chapter students are encouraged to think through ideas in relation to their everyday experiences, and to understand that political thought occurs in many formats, so that they develop a more inclusive, intercultural, and critical awareness of the development of social and political thought. Original and timely, Rethinking Political Thinkers is designed to support the study of a decolonised political theory curriculum, revitalising political thought as a practice that belongs to us all. The online student resources include links to relevant videos, articles, blogs, and useful websites, which help students further develop their research interests. Additionally, detailed thinker biographies provide further social, political, and cultural context for each theorist covered in the text.
Are you tired of feeling like a second-class citizen in marriage? Do you want to take back control and demand fairness for men in today's society? Rethinking Marriage is the ultimate guide to understanding the minefield of modern relationships from a man's perspective. - Discover the benefits and drawbacks of pre-nuptial agreements - Learn about the psychology behind false allegations and how to protect yourself - Understand the importance of a father's involvement in raising the next generation - Explore the economic disparities between women and men, and the urgent need for balance - Discover the financial impact of divorce on men - Understand how adultery is used as a psychological manipulation tool against men - Master the art of rational thinking in navigating today's gynocentric society - Learn about the dangers of progressive ideologies and their impact on boys and men in schools If you want to take back control and stand up for men's rights in today's society, then buy this book today and start rediscovering your power.
This volume highlights important classic and contemporary works by law and society scholars who analyze the complex and often highly political relationship between law and families. Featuring authors from Australia, Canada, England and the United States, the volume looks at how socio-legal scholars think about families and the law, how law shapes family practices, the capacity of family law to deliver social justice and how family disputes are resolved. Topics such as law's role in recognizing spousal and parental relationships or promoting responsible behaviour or equality norms are covered and the relationship between law's assumptions and the lived realities of families is problematized.
Exploring the only option for a growing army of children who cannot be placed for adoption or fostering, this text demonstrates from a large-scale survey of orphan alumni that they outpace the general population in most areas of life.
This insightful Research Handbook provides a global perspective on key legal debates surrounding marriage and cohabitation. Bringing together an impressive array of established and emerging scholars, it adopts a comparative approach to analyse cross-jurisdictional trends and divergences in relationship recognition and family formation.
