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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on April 4, 2005
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2005 29(5):669-684; doi:10.1093/cje/bei041
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

The functions of the family in the great society

Steven Horwitz*

* St Lawrence University

Address for correspondence: Steven Horwitz, Department of Economics, St Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617, USA; email: sghorwitz{at}stlawu.edu

Criticisms by Hodgson and others that Hayek and other Austrians cannot offer a theory of the family are responded to with a discussion of the functions of the family in a market society. The family can be understood as a bridge between what Hayek terms ‘organisations’, or face-to-face social institutions and ‘orders’, or the anonymous social institutions of the Great Society. The family's necessary role is then linked to familiar Hayekian themes of knowledge and incentives. Families help us to learn the explicit and tacit social rules necessary for functioning in the wider world, and families are uniquely positioned to do so, because it is those closest to us who have the knowledge and incentives necessary to provide that learning.

Key Words: Family • F. A. Hayek • Capitalism • Knowledge

JEL classifications: J12, P10, B53

Manuscript received September 23, 2002; final version received December 15, 2004.


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