What is a Family?

Law and Regulation in a Transdisciplinary Context
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-5292-4633-9
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Law, Society, Policy

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

How families are formed, lived and understood has shifted dramatically—yet legal frameworks often still reflect outdated norms. This collection brings together a diverse team of international contributors to explore what a family is through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including law, psychology, economics, family science and history, inviting transdisciplinary reflections on family regulation.

By examining how legal systems respond to, resist, or incorporate diverse family forms, from non-marital partnerships to trans families, the book reveals the tensions between lived realities and legal recognition. Offering fresh insight into how regulation shapes and is shaped by evolving family life, this book is essential for scholars interested in family law, social policy and the changing dynamics of kinship.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Margaria, Alice

Fenton-Glynn, Claire

Weitere Mitwirkende

Albertson Fineman, Martha

Brown, Alan

Peleg, Noam

Scherpe, Jens M

Maynes, Mary Jo

Grossbard, Shoshana

Allen, Katherine

Ellis-Davies, Kate

Foley, Sarah

Aassve, Arnstein

Adserà, Alícia

Chang, Paul Y.

Mencarini, Letizia

Peng, Chen

Plach, Samuel

Raymo, James M.

Wang, Senhu

Yeung, Wei-Jun Jean

Palazzo, Nausica

Cardoso, Daniel

Jenkins, Claire

Moradi, Helena

Herring, Jonathan

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Familiensoziologie
• Rechtswissenschaften Bürgerliches Recht Familienrecht
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtssoziologie, Rechtspsychologie, Rechtslinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword - Martha Albertson Fineman

1. Introduction – Claire Fenton-Glynn and Alice Margaria

Part 1: Unsettling Traditional Paradigms

2. What Is a Family? A Feminist Family Science Perspective – Katherine R Allen

3. The Legal Family – Alan Brown

4. The Family and Its Disruption by Transgender Families – a Study of the Cases ‘Nigel and Beth’ and ‘Christina and Kimberly’ – Claire Jenkins

Part 2: Developing Regulation of Adult Relationships

5. Marriage and Family Formation at the Intersection of Law and History – Mary Jo Maynes

6. What Is a ‘European Family’? – Jens M Scherpe

7. Why Should the State Recognize Non-Conjugal Unions? An Analysis of the Debate Around Their Legal Recognition – Nausica Palazzo and Daniel Cardoso

Part 3: Empirical Approaches to Defining Families

8. What Is a Family? A Developmental Psychology Perspective – Kate Ellis-Davies and Sarah Foley

9. A Feminist Economist’s Perspective on Marriage Laws – Shoshana Grossbard

10. Family Ideals Across Cultures – Arnstein Aassve, Alícia Adserà, Paul Y. Chang, Letizia Mencarini, Chen Peng, Samuel Plach, James M. Raymo, Senhu Wang, and Wei-Jun Jean Yeung

Part 4: Rethinking the Family of Law

11. The Legal Family as a Child Development Incubator – Noam Peleg

12. From Folkhemmet to Post-Welfare Sweden: Rethinking Care and Dependency in a Neoliberal Context – Helena Moradi

13. Loneliness and Care: Rethinking the Role of Family Law – Jonathan Herring

Über Autor(innen)

Herring, Jonathan
Jonathan Herring is Professor of Law at the University of Oxford and DW Wolf-Clarendon Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford.

Margaria, Alice
Alice Margaria is an Assistant Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Program Human Reproduction Reloaded at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Albertson Fineman, Martha
Martha Albertson Fineman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science and a Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University. An award winning scholar, she is the Founding Director of both the Feminism and Legal Theory Project and the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative.

Fenton-Glynn, Claire
Claire Fenton-Glynn is a Professor of Law at the University of Monash, Australia.

Alice Margaria is an Assistant Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Program Human Reproduction Reloaded at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Claire Fenton-Glynn is a Professor of Law at the University of Monash, Australia.