The authors question how the contradictory anthropological theories of family proffered by Lewis Henry Morgan, Edvard Westermarck, and Robert Briffault could have all been acknowledged as true at different times and in different societies. Arguing that the theory of each resonated with a specific hegemonic intellectual paradigm and lost favor only when this paradigm was no longer fashionable, they claim that it is in fact the conformity of the idea to dominant values and ideology—and not any actual claim to verifiable truth—which constitutes the source of its popularity. This lack of objective thinking about society is a problem, however, because within the realm of social policy it obscures necessary solutions to pressing issues. This distortion causes people to yearn for a romanticized past when the issue in question had allegedly not yet come into existence, exacerbating the current situation.
