In the Name of the Family

Prominent cultural critic Judith Stacey offers a ringing rebuttal to the rhetoric of "family values" with this powerful argument for accepting family diversity-including a strong new case for legal same-sex marriage.[Stacey] argues forcefully against what she regards as the punitive and mean-spirited solutions offered by conservatives, such as efforts to get men back into the home by restoring their dominance there. . . . Members of the impoverished underclass, denied opportunities for work and training, and now being denied even the basic humane supports of life, aren't ever going to be able to live like Ozzie and Harriet; to tell them they should is not only delusional but cruel. --Carol Tavris, The New York Times Book Review

"In the face of political retrenchment, Stacey-eloquent, moral, angry and smart-is always worth listening to. . . . [This book] offers us a first step toward imagining a world in which all families have a chance to love, and live, well." --Virginia Scharff, The Women's Review of Books

"Stacey makes her own case for a more realistic, more generous understanding of 'family.' Her arguments . . . show that islands of independent thinking have not been entirely submerged by the family values tsunami."
--Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe

"Exposes the orchestrated right-wing campaign to convince President Clinton, the media, and many Americans that two-parent families are superior to other family structures." --Hip MamaJudith Stacey is the Streisand Professor of Contemporary Gender Studies and professor of sociology at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Brave New Families and Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China.