Destroy the Family to Realize Its Promise: Abolition as Care Communization

ABSTRACT: The idea of family abolition has reappeared among parts of the radical left, following a hiatus of almost 50 years. But— as some have objected—is not capitalism itself “abolishing” familial life (in the colloquial sense of destroying it) in various ways? Indeed, the private nuclear household appears embattled and undermined. In this context, the resurgent debate clarifies why the form of destruction family abolitionists seek is one that realizes familism’s false promise. Abolition, here, is the actualization of humanity’s universal care-neediness through the communization of lifemaking. Defending this sense of the word “abolish” (i.e., positive supersession) remains worthwhile.