Family Boundaries: The Invention of Normality and Dangerousness

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at both Trent University and the
University of Waterloo.

Caroline Knowles sees the family as more than a place where the major
structures of societies are reproduced through the process of
socialization. In her view, family is also socially produced through the
various forms of regulation and legal administration that are managed by
social agencies and public policies.

Family Boundaries focuses on the generation of the family through the
indirect intervention of social agencies responsible for child
protection. These agencies administer the boundaries between what is
accepted as “normal” family behavior and what is considered family
“dangerousness.” In other words, they are legally mandated by
governments to manage the boundaries of family life and to remove
children in need of protection from dangerous situations. Child
protection agencies thus socially produce the family forms in societies
by defining those forms that are acceptable and those that are not.

Knowles draws upon the writings of Foucault and Donzelot on power to
demonstrate that these administrative inventions are shaped not only be
a general concern about child abuse but also by gender, class, and
racial distinctions. Responsibility for child safety is placed unevenly
(i.e., on mothers more than on fathers); is strongly linked with
poverty; and, in some countries, is associated with race.

Family Boundaries makes an important contribution to the sociology of
the family. Its strong analysis of the family; child abuse; and the
concepts of childhood, motherhood, and fatherhood should be of
particular interest to those working in child welfare, to those
responsible for preparing public policies, and to those teaching courses
on the family.