Everyday Utopia: In Praise of Radical Alternatives to the Traditional Family Home

Everyday Utopia: In Praise of Radical Alternatives to the Traditional Family Home

An uplifting tour of better ways to live together, own property, have families and raise children. The traditional ‘nuclear’ family home is a problem: it places unfair and unnecessary burdens on women (and men too), it entrenches inequalities, it entraps us financially and it hinders certain kinds of child development. In some ways it is the most fundamental obstacle we face to a fairer society. Also, it doesn’t seem to make us very happy. And yet throughout history and around the world today, forward-thinking communities have pioneered alternative ways of living – from the all-female ‘beguinages’ of medieval Belgium to the matriarchal ecovillages of contemporary Colombia; from the ancient Greek commune founded by Pythagoras, where men and women lived as equals and shared property, to present-day Connecticut, where new laws make it easier for extra ‘alloparents’ to help raise children not their own. Some of these experiments burned brightly and briefly; others are living proof of what is possible. Everyday Utopia upends our assumptions and raises our sights by gathering these and many more inspiring examples into a radically hopeful and practical vision of more contented and connected ways of living.

JFFK; JFSJ1; HPS; JFCX; JFFR; KCA |

Kristen Ghodsee – The Bodley Head Ltd