Familial Caretaking

Abstract

This article develops the theme of rethinking family as a social form by positing an overall approach that suggests the development of various specific definitions of family, each suitable for the empirical or theoretical exploration of a set of family issues. The development of one example, familial caretaking, a definition of family for use in the context of social policy, will illustrate the potential effectiveness of this approach. The concern of government is to conceptualize the familial in terms concrete behavioral aspects of care and responsibility because if the family does not provide care, the state may have to take over the responsibility and provide the care. Overall, this definition of family is fluid in that it includes nonkin as well as distant kin. It also raises the issue of the gender division of labor with respect to family caregiving responsibilities. The unwillingness, on the part of the state, to support all forms of familial caretaking increases the likelihood of employing mechanisms of social control and authoritarian drift.