ABSTRACT
The development over the past two and a half decades of a discerning and diverse body of critical thought with respect to the family as a socio-legal institution is attributable in substantial part to the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, which we celebrate with this very volume. The Project’s success and longevity, of course, are the result of tireless work by its founder, Martha Fineman, and many of her colleagues and students. Not only has Fineman organized an astonishing number of conferences and co-edited seven scholarly volumes, she has trained and encouraged countless students, scholars, and activists-myself included-with generosity and vigor. In addition, she has authored brilliant legal and social theory indispensable to anyone concerned for the tenacious inequalities that societies create and, in many ways, tolerate. I salute Fineman for her contributions to a more just world. This chapter is part of a larger project that examines the importance of the
concept of family in the United States, especially as related to how we collectively understand and approach human vulnerability and dependency. In particular, I am interested to consider the thorough significance of family in law and policy from the perspective of those “without family,” i.e. those who live disconnected from family. What does the comprehensive relevance of family mean for and to adults who are in need of significant care but who live with little to no association to family, broadly understood, or whose families are unable to fulfill their caretaking duties? My argument is that at the same time our family regime privileges some families over others, namely via marriage, we also privilege those individuals connected to family over those who are not. Our social policy’s incredible reliance on family, in conjunction with assumptions about family form and function, creates an extensive, unique, and invisible vulnerability for adults without family, particularly those who face extreme dependency. My goal for this chapter is not to fully explore this argument. Rather, framed within the context of this broader project, I present original research on the demographics of people who live alone, a growing segment of society about which we know relatively little.
