ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides a necessary antidote to nostalgic longings for a return to the good old family of yore. It explores the distinguishing characteristics of the modern family in its conventional form is its capacity to respond to the many dimensions of human nature while at the same time being able to reconcile external challenges with its core features in salutary ways. The new morality made the family into the highest achievement of middle-class life and required modes of conduct that allowed for little deviation from the earlier celebrated virtues of self-control, discipline, and prudence. The book argues that one of the major reasons for the denial of the importance of the modern family must be sought in the facile rejection of its bourgeois or middle-class way of life.
