Political Allocation

The allocation of power and responsibility in family contexts is separable only analytically from the subject of solidarity. This chapter is thus a repetition, with different emphases, of the discussion in chapter 6 concerning the strength of solidarities in a family context. Political allocation in family contexts is always hierarchical. This is the most general statement that can be made. Family relationships are not friendships as such—to wit, the saying: “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives.” Even when spouses choose one another, the resulting relationship is not egalitarian, and even when egalitarianism can be