In the Name of the Family: Rethinking Family Values in a Postmodern Age

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book!
Review: in clear, pithy language,the sociologist Judith Stacey explains why current Dan-Quayle-style "family values" moralizing is out of step with the more fluid family arrangements of our era. She shows the damage "pro-family" ideologues have done by devaluing single mothers, live-togethers, gay and lesbian parents -- denied custody, punitive welfare "reform," etc -- an eye-opener!

Rating:
Summary: more of the same from the extreme left in the family debate
Review: in clear, pithy language,the sociologist Judith Stacey explains why current Dan-Quayle-style "family values" moralizing is out of step with the more fluid family arrangements of our era. She shows the damage "pro-family" ideologues have done by devaluing single mothers, live-togethers, gay and lesbian parents -- denied custody, punitive welfare "reform," etc -- an eye-opener!

Rating:
Summary: more of the same from the extreme left in the family debate
Review: Katha Pollitt, the Nation writer, likes this book. Katha Pollitt, the Nation writer, also thinks the fact that babies are exceedingly interested in their mothers' breasts (for the milk contained therein, 'naturally'!) is not natural, but rather a mere (one hesitates to repeat the mantra) social construction (see her list of other book reviews). (and btw, how about those stupid right-wing babies, believing their motivations toward the breast are somehow hard-wired into them, rather than being the evil production of the misogynist culture in which we live!) These two facts should tell you some very important things about this book.