The family as legal category is a construct of modern state governance

Evidence

The invention of despotism (prior to Montesquieu, it was the political philosopher Jean Bodin who, in the sixteenth century “introduced the noun ‘despotism’ to designate a specific form of government”) involves the translation of a domestic term into a political one-the despotes was the head of the household, not a political figure. — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 618 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The legal family emerged as a state-administration object amid statistical abstractions; The family gains legal salience precisely as governance shifts to statistical abstractions; Modern racial states are constituted through the legal fashioning of racial categories — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 76 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The family gains legal salience precisely as governance shifts to statistical abstractions #corroborates (0.92)
• The modern political concept of despotism began as a domestic household term #complicates (0.72) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 618