ABSTRACT
The family is a peculiar institution. At one level, it has the core function of socializing each new generation into the culture in which it exists. It passes on the language and the symbols that enable children to communicate and participate in society. It embodies in them taken-for-granted ways of being in the world which create identities and a sense of bonding and belonging. At the same time, it also reproduces existing forms of domination, particularly in relation to social class, patriarchy and other structures of power. It is the linchpin that connects individuals to other social institutions, particularly the State. It is the State – in and through the family – that names and constitutes each individual as a subject who operates within its laws and institutions. What makes the family peculiar is that although it is a core institution, unlike other institutions (the State, the Church, the media, the market and so forth) it has little or no power. It is rather the subject of power. It does not produce its own discourse, but rather adopts, adapts and filters the discourses of other institutions. The history of the family in Ireland, as elsewhere, is how it has been moulded by other institutions.
