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Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought
With crisp prose and intellectual fairness, Family Politics traces the treatment of the family in the philosophies of leading political thinkers of the modern world. What is family? What is marriage? In an effort to address contemporary society’s disputes over the meanings of these human social institutions, Scott Yenor carefully examines a roster of major and unexpected modern political philosophers—from Locke and Rousseau to Hegel and Marx to Freud and Beauvoir. He lucidly presents how these individuals developed an understanding of family in order to advance their goals of political and social reform. Through this exploration, Yenor unveils the effect of modern liberty on this foundational institution and argues that the quest to pursue individual autonomy has undermined the nature of marriage and jeopardizes its future.
430 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2011
About the author
Scott Yenor
5 books7 followersThe main focus of Scott Yenor's work is the family in political thought.
Yenor is a professor of political science at Boise State University. Yenor earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in political science. He earned his Ph. D. from Loyola University Chicago. He wrote his dissertation on "The Moral Sciences of John Locke and David Hume."
Yenor is a Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute's Center for the American Way of Life. Also, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Simon Center at the Heritage Foundation during 2015-2016.
Yenor is a professor of political science at Boise State University. Yenor earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in political science. He earned his Ph. D. from Loyola University Chicago. He wrote his dissertation on "The Moral Sciences of John Locke and David Hume."
Yenor is a Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute's Center for the American Way of Life. Also, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Simon Center at the Heritage Foundation during 2015-2016.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 8, 2021
You can put lipstick on a hog and call it a pig, but it doesn’t change the nature of the animal. The ideas expressed by this “author” dressed up in the language of academia, are no less reprehensible. Misogyny is still hate, even cloaked in the robes of the academic elite.
October 4, 2020
Armed with impressive prose and a passion for intellectual justice, Dr Scott Yenor tracks the treatment of the family in the primary philosophies of leading political thinkers of the modern period.
Scott covers the elementary and essential questions from an array of different and refreshing angles: What is family? What is marriage? And just why have things gone so awry?
In an attempt to address today's arguments over the meanings of these enduring human social institutions, Dr Yenor carefully examines both major and lesser-known political philosophers- from John Locke and the scoundrel Rousseau to Hegel and Karl Marx to Freud and Beauvoir.
Scott describes how these (mostly) ideologues have created perverted impressions of family to advance their libertine desires for political and social reform.
Through a long and worthwhile sojourn, Scott highlights the shameful effects of this libertinism on marriage and the family, and argues convincingly that the quest to pursue individualist autonomy has attacked the necessary and humanising institution of marriage and still imperils its future.
The reader should follow this book with Dr Yenor's latest book on Recovering the Family in order to get the whole picture, and both books together make a for a sublime study of our central societal human concerns. There are great challenges afoot, but great opportunities and enduring Hope.
Scott covers the elementary and essential questions from an array of different and refreshing angles: What is family? What is marriage? And just why have things gone so awry?
In an attempt to address today's arguments over the meanings of these enduring human social institutions, Dr Yenor carefully examines both major and lesser-known political philosophers- from John Locke and the scoundrel Rousseau to Hegel and Karl Marx to Freud and Beauvoir.
Scott describes how these (mostly) ideologues have created perverted impressions of family to advance their libertine desires for political and social reform.
Through a long and worthwhile sojourn, Scott highlights the shameful effects of this libertinism on marriage and the family, and argues convincingly that the quest to pursue individualist autonomy has attacked the necessary and humanising institution of marriage and still imperils its future.
The reader should follow this book with Dr Yenor's latest book on Recovering the Family in order to get the whole picture, and both books together make a for a sublime study of our central societal human concerns. There are great challenges afoot, but great opportunities and enduring Hope.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews