Our Sacred Institution: The Ideal of the Family in American Law and Society

Abstract

The "family" as a legal, functional, and symbolic institution in America is based on an unarticulated conception of an institution governed and defined in natural law. That natural family in some version is reproduced in all professional discourses. The family is the unexamined backdrop in our society, not considered to be a political institution, constituting the "private" as distinct from the "public." It is an assumed institution that derives its value as a foundational institution, providing a perceived essential background for other social institutions. The natural family thus has tremendous societal value which helps to explain why it alone continues to serve as the only legitimate referent for our political and public discussions about intimacy, sexuality, and morality, as well as defining for us what are appropriate "family" policies and needed law reforms.

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