The Golden Chain

If families are viewed as one of the links of a possible "golden chain" connecting individuals, the private sphere, civil society, and the democratic state, a great part of the literature on civil society pays very little attention to the complex relations between civil society and the family. These two spheres have the power to constitute a central element in democratic development and culture and to form a counterweight to some of the most distressing aspects of modernity, such as the excessive privatization of home life and the unceasing work-and-spend routines of modern life. This volume therefore concerns the role of families and their members in the processes of a liberal and democratic civil society, the question of boundaries and intersections of the private and public domains, and the interventions of state institutions. The family has the potential to be an important source of energy for civil society activity and be the primary institution that socializes and diffuses values and norms which are of fundamental importance.