Household Politics

"Household Politics" offers a brand-new look at "familial patriarchy" in early modern England, which was an era when it supposedly thrived. Canonical sources and sermons often urged the subordination of women. But Herzog found that most considered the notion ludicrous. In fact, he found that families experienced a constant negotiation of power, debunking the myth that they were ever universally and non-negotiably patriarchal during this era. Herzog's original analysis will be intimately familiar to anyone who is part of a family or business. However, he resists the urge to extrapolate his conclusions to the modern day. Instead, he shows why patriarchy did not incite women's political subordination, as we know it in this country. This, of course, has been an essential thought within decades of feminist theory and history. He also shows how conflict does not corrode social order. It actually helps create it.