Linda C. McClain

The Family, the State, and American Political Development As a Big Tent: Asking Basic Questions About Basic Institutions

This article evaluates the proposition that the relationship between the family and the state should be more central to the study of American political development. It compares parallel efforts in the 1980s by pioneering feminist political and legal theorists to put on the table such issues as the public/private distinction between the polity and the family, assumptions about the role of the family (and of women’s wifely and maternal labor) in the political order, and injustice within the family. It illustrates how legal scholars regularly examine not only the evolution over time of family definitions, forms, and gender roles, but also the evolution of how various forms of the state have regulated and supported the family. The article suggests that the study of American political development is a “big tent” within which scholars from diverse disciplines may benefit from fruitful conversations about parallel inquiries. To indicate the importance of the contextual and temporal examination of the family and the state, the article analyzes the recent landmark Supreme Court opinion, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which held that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry in every state.