The stereotypical nuclear family is in the minority of households, yet remains a powerful ideology. This classic of socialist feminism charts how the family reinforces conditions of inequality, and asks: Why does the family enjoy such popular support, including by feminists and the left? Despite its many problems, The Anti-social Family answers, the family meets real needs.

These needs must be taken seriously, and alter-native ways to meet them developed, giving people more choices and collectively taking on the work and responsibilities currently privatised within the family.