2023/05/01 by Jennifer Crane
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Gender and Feminism Studies #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0960777323000152
openalex publication_date 2023/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Families have always been vulnerable. They have long been torn apart by the mass migrations of warfare, the oppression of minority groups, the closure of international borders and the refugee crises governed ‘from above’. Families have also always been powerful symbols. Nationalist–populist movements have capitalised on fears about familial decline and liberal democracies have built moralistic views of the family into their welfare systems. Yet, this special issue aims to demonstrate that families have not merely been objects or subjects buffeted by political and social change. Rather, families have also consistently acted as ‘agents of change’. This is not to valorise the family – families have been patriarchal, damaging and oppressive as well as supportive, empowering and caring. However, this is to say that historical work must take ‘the family’ seriously as an active participant in shaping historical change.