Hayek’s Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions Book Panel

Throughout his work, F. A. Hayek surprisingly wrote little about the family, which could be considered one of the most important social institutions. But what can Hayek’s intellectual framework about the use of knowledge in society tell us about the role that families play in the development of children?  

In Hayek's Modern Family, Steven Horwitz argues that families are social institutions that perform certain irreplaceable functions in society, but that those functions change as economic, political, and social circumstances change. In Hayekian terms, the family is an evolving and un-designed social institution. Horwitz offers a non-conservative defense of the family as a social institution against the view that either the state or "the village" is able or necessary to take over its irreplaceable functions.

Please join the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for a panel discussion featuring Hayek Program Affiliated Senior Scholar Steve Horwitz and his new book Hayek’s Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions.

Commenters Jayme Lemke and Bobbi Herzberg will discuss Hayek’s Modern Family in relation to the history of social policy and Horwitz's treatment of Hayek's theoretical ideas.