Book Review: The Scandal of the State: Women, Law and Citizenship in Postcolonial India

Abstract

authors suggest that this is neither a matter of misrepresentation nor accidental omission, but a fundamental flaw in the conceptual and theoretical (postmodernist) framework. They argue that 'the notion of "democratic families" remains a fundamentally "public" concept that is being imported into the "private" sphere in ways that misrepresent people's family lives and misshape our understandings of those lives' (p. 146). Unfortunately, because of the lack of everyday detail, the book tends to leave the reader guessing at the details of the 'modernist, morally absolute, society' which the authors claim as commonplace. This book fits comfortably within the canon of work on families and adds to sociological understanding of step-parent families, and it extends the debate on individualization and the democratization of relationships. Its consideration of affective ties within families makes this book relevant to those interested in 'family studies' and debates on the sociology of contemporary gender relations, emotions and intimacy. Throughout the book the authors effectively integrate existing research and theorization on families with their own empirical data. This makes it very useful to those who are new to 'family studies', while its critical engagement with the subject makes it interesting to those who already know the territory. Making Families is an accessible and thoughtprovoking book that will appeal to scholars and undergraduates alike.