Title
The household : informal order around the hearth / Robert C. Ellickson.
ISBN
9780691134420 (alk. paper)
0691134421 (alk. paper)
Publication Details
Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2008.
Language
English
Description
xv, 251 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Call Number
HB820 .E45 2008
Dewey Decimal Classification
339.4/7
Summary
Some people dwell alone, many in family-based households, and an adventuresome few in communes. The Household is the first book to systematically lay bare the internal dynamics of these and other home arrangements. Legal underpinnings, social considerations, and economic constraints all influence how household participants select their homemates and govern their interactions around the hearth. Robert Ellickson applies transaction cost economics, sociological theory, and legal analysis to explore issues such as the sharing of household output, the control of domestic misconduct, and the ownership of dwelling units. Drawing on a broad range of historical and statistical sources, Ellickson contrasts family-based households with the more complex arrangements in medieval English castles, Israeli kibbutzim, and contemporary cohousing communities. He shows that most individuals, when structuring their home relationships, pursue a strategy of consorting with intimates. This, he asserts, facilitates informal coordination and tends ultimately to enhance the quality of domestic interactions. He challenges utopian critics who seek to enlarge the scale of the household and legal advocates who urge household members to rely more on written contracts and lawsuits. Ellickson argues that these commentators fail to appreciate the great advantages in the home setting of informally associating with a handful of trusted intimates.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
How households differ from families
Household formation and dissolution in a liberal society
The predominant strategy: consorting with intimates
A historical overview of household forms
Are the household forms that endure necessarily best?
Choosing which of a household's participants should serve as its owners
The mixed blessings of joining with others
Order without law in an ongoing household
The challenge of unpacking the household.
