Such principles shed unexpected light on controversies about the moral standing of monetary compensation for accidental death (Borneman 2002; Lascher and Powers 2004.). In the case of 9/11 payments, critics often accused victims’ families of simple, distaste­ful greed. However, 9/11 recipients of compensation repeatedly de­clared that it was “not about the money.” Fund administrator Ken­neth […]

For a concrete application, let us return to the contested topic of paid care, which has emerged as a crucial issue on the national politi­cal agenda. With the aging of the baby-boom generation, and as most mothers in the United States participate in paid work, the care of children, the elderly, and the sick is […]

One final disclaimer: despite its occasional forays into normative questions, this book by no means takes up a systematic exposition of normative principles that ought to govern intimate relations ei­ther in ordinary practice or in the law. Instead, the book clarifies the stakes of a number of consequential policy questions. It does so by overturning […]

Is this book’s account of how intimacy and economic transactions mingle an American contemporary story, the peculiar outcome of a money-driven U. S. culture? After all, it does focus on U. S. practices and law, most often during the past half-century. Certainly, the modern monetization of economic life has marked profound differ­ences in our experiences […]

Hildegard Lee Borelli and Michael J. Borelli were married in 1980. Three years later, as Michael’s health began to falter, he went to the hospital repeatedly with heart trouble. In 1988, after he suffered a stroke, Michael’s doctors recommended round-the-clock institu­tional care. But Michael resisted the move. Instead, he promised his wife that if she […]

As we have seen, household commerce presents the law with even greater challenges than do the complex issues raised by coupling and relations of care. Why is that? Household economic relations involve an intricate mix of intimacy and economic activity. They interweave long-term commitment, continuous demands of coordi­nation and reciprocity, relations to kin, friends, and […]

Go to your local bookstore. The average general bookstore has a full shelf of advice books, which frequently stand high on best-seller lists. Amid the advice on making a billion dollars, losing a hundred pounds, and transforming your psyche, you will find plenty of legal advice, sometimes on how to take a problem before the […]

Everyday household disputes often turn on contributions of family members to the collective enterprise: spouses’ participation in house­work, children’s responsibility for household tasks, negotiation with outside organizations, and so on. Such issues become matters of legal contestation when one member or another seeks compensation for services to the household after the fact or makes claims […]

Major household purchases, as we have seen, typically involve most or all household members and sometimes draw in other kin as well. When trouble starts, the nature of those purchases and payment for them often become acute matters of legal dispute. In divorce settlements, for example, whether a household automobile belonged to one spouse or […]

Every household works out some arrangements for receipt, storage, distribution, and expenditure of the household’s financial assets. Most households stabilize those arrangements by such devices as budgets, allowances, pooled or separate bank accounts, and respon­sibility for payment of bills. So doing, members of households si­multaneously represent and shape their shared understanding of re­lations within the […]