Alone Together: Law and the Meanings of Marriage / Edition 1

by Milton C. Regan

Overview

Contemporary marriage involves complex notions of both connection and freedom. On the one hand, spouses are members of a shared community, while on the other they are discrete individuals with their own distinct interests. Alone Together explores the ways in which law seeks to accommodate tensions between commitment and freedom in marriage. Author Milton Regan suggests that only close attention to context can guide us in deciding what weight to assign to each dimension of spousal identity in a given setting. This interdisciplinary work has relevance to family law, family studies, feminist legal theory, and the debate between liberal and communitarian social theorists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195110036
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.81(d)
Lexile:	1800L (what's this?)

About the Author

Georgetown University Law Center

What People are Saying About This

Molly Shanley

'Milton C. Regan, Jr.'s insightful analysis of both legal and popular understandings of marriage in Alone Together cannot fail to interest lawyers, social scientists, and humanists alike. In addition to its legal erudition, Regan's work is deeply informed by the insights of recent feminist scholarship. The combination of meticulous attention to legal analysis and broad philosophical argument found in Alone Together make it an extraordinary work, and an exceptionally valuable contribution to contemporary thinking about families.
— Vassar College

Katharine T. Bartlett

'Finally, a thoughtful, clear-headed book that doesn't promise us quick and easy solutions to issues of marriage and family, but rather challenges us to think more deeply about the inescapable tensions between autonomy and commitment that underlie any attempt by the law to resolve these issues.
— Duke Law School

Editorial Reviews

"...[a] well-researched and thoughtful book....Regan offers a rich analysis showing the philosophical and legal underpinnings of contemporary marriages."—Choice

From the Publisher