The Owenites conceived of their communities as extended families organized on the basis of egalitarian brotherhood and sisterhood rather than on patriarchal principles. Marriage choices were to be free of all property considerations, and divorce was allowed when love was absent, providing the offspring of the union were taken care of — in their own case, by the community. To achieve what Owen called the “enlargement of the home,” his followers abolished private property and inheritance. All children were to have access to a common heritage. In Owen’s extended family, there would be no bastards or orphans. Nor would there be involuntary spinsters or bachelors, deserted mothers or absent fathers, for all young people would have enough to marry on, and men and women would share equally in work and family life to the degree that was humanly possible.
Wow, some people (Quakers) in the 19th century had their heads on right. Too bad the competition on what form families would take was taken by the nuclear family…
Communal Family Life
Wow, some people (Quakers) in the 19th century had their heads on right. Too bad the competition on what form families would take was taken by the nuclear family…
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