The Household: Informal Order around the Hearth

268 Pages·2008·0.82 MB·English

by  Robert C. Ellickson

The Household
The Household
Informal Order
around the Hearth
Robert C. Ellickson
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2008 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,41 William Street,Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom:Princeton University Press,6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock,Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ellickson,Robert C.
The household :informal order around the hearth / Robert C.
Ellickson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-13442-0 (hardcover :alk.paper) 1. Households—
Economic aspects. 2. Consumption (Economics) 3. Informal
sector (Economics) I. Title.
HB820.E45 2008
339.4(cid:2)7—dc22 2008003203
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Adobe Caslon Pro
Printed on acid-free paper.(cid:3)
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the members ofthe household
who first instructed me in homeways:
Katherine Pollak Ellickson,my mother
John Chester Ellickson,my father
Margaret Ellickson Senturia,my sister
Barbara O’Leary Singleton (Nana)

Contents
Preface xi
Chapter 1
how households differ from families 1
Chapter 2
household formation and
dissolution in a liberal society 10
Three Distinct Relationships that May Exist
within a Household 10
Foundational Liberal Rights that Enable Individuals to
Fashion Their Own Households 13
Household Surplus and Its Distribution
among Members 22
viii Contents
Chapter 3
the predominant strategy:
consorting with intimates 27
Favoring Those with Whom One Will
Have Continuing Relations 29
Limiting the Number ofPersons in the Relationship 32
Favoring Homogeneity ofTastes and Stakes 32
Chapter 4
a historical overview of
household forms 35
Occupants ofHouseholds:The Predominance
ofSmall,Kin-Based Clusters 35
Owners ofDwelling Units 41
Residential Landlord-Tenant Relationships 44
Chapter 5
are the household forms that endure
necessarily best? 46
Utopian Designs ofUnconventional Households 46
Possible Imperfections,from a Liberal Perspective,in the
Process ofHousehold Formation 47
Is Liberalism Overly Destructive ofSolidarity? 51
The Unpromising History ofExperiments with
Unconventional Household Forms 53
Contents ix
Chapter 6
choosing which of a household’s
participants should serve
as its owners 60
Basic Concepts in the Theory ofthe
Ownership ofEnterprise 60
Why Suppliers ofa Household’s At-Risk Capital
Tend to End Up Owning It 64
Chapter 7
the mixed blessings of joining
with others 76
Adding Co-Occupants 76
Adding Co-Owners 85
Choosing between Owning and Renting a Home 86
Chapter 8
order without law in an
ongoing household 92
The Tendency toward Welfare-Maximizing
Substantive and Procedural Rules 94
Sources ofHousehold Rules:In General 101
Rules for Co-Occupants 109
Rules for Co-Owners 120
Rules to Govern the Landlord-Tenant Relationship 123