ABSTRACT
As a scholar and teacher, I spend regular sessions each year explaining to students that ‘the family’ does not exist and all those things we think of as ‘new problems’ have existed for centuries or longer. Dual-worker families are probably the norm throughout history and throughout the contemporary world. Single parent families have always been common in periods of industrial development. Polygamy as an ideal or reality has probably been far more common throughout human history than monogamy; polygamy is still a major form of partnering across the world. Abuse and violence between intimates are as old as any human mythology.
