THE FAMILY AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITUTION: HISTORICAL CONTINGENCIES AND THE GREAT RECESSION

• Published in: International journal of sociology of the family Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 1 - 26
• Main Author: GILLESPIE, MICHAEL D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Serials Publications 01-04-2014
• Subjects: Capitalism; Consumer credit; Consumer economics; Consumers; Consumption; Economic conditions; Household consumption; Mortgage loans; Political Economy; Public assistance programs; Public Support; Social Problems; Social Structure; Social structures; United States of America; Welfare state; Well Being; Working Class
• ISSN: 0020-7667; 0973-2039; 0020-7667

The United States "Great Recession" beginning in December 2007 was sustained by mounting economic, financial and social problems of the middle-and working-classes, while exposing contradictions between family economic wellbeing and capital accumulation. To investigate this historically-contingent contradiction, this paper develops a macro-historical concept of the family as a social institution utilizing social structure of accumulation theory. Through an institutional analysis of the political, social, and economic conditions of existence for families in the post-WWII United States, the family as an institution, once supported through a safety net of public support for the reproduction of labor power, becomes leveraged to support consumer demand through private expenditures. This relationship with the political economy leads to a historically contingent understanding of how the economic deterioration of families is linked to unprecedented levels of consumption, and a culture hedged on consumer debt.