Family Anarchology and Anarchopathology: (6/10) Family as the Birthplace and Tomb of Anarcocracy

 Family Anarchology and Anarchopathology: (6/10) Family as the Birthplace and Tomb of Anarcocracy 

✍️ Mahmoud Sadeghi Janbahan

Translated with the assistance of ChatGPT

☑️ Mechanisms of Transition from the Authoritarian Family to the Emancipatory Family

✅ Family as the Dialectical Field of Freedom and Domination

The analysis of family requires a dialectical perspective. The essence and functioning of family as such cannot be evaluated as inherently positive or negative, since family always embodies contradictory and conflicting potentials. It can nurture the seeds of freedom, autonomy, and dignity, while at the same time suffocating them at birth. It may foster cognitive, emotional, and moral courage, or conversely, it may institutionalize fear, submission, and passivity. Family can be a window opening toward society, justice, and dignity, but it can also become a closed frame that restricts, distorts, and even blinds the vision of its members.

In other words, family is intrinsically a site of constant struggle between freedom and domination — a stage upon which opposing forces act simultaneously and in complex ways. Here, dialectical rules apply: domination always carries within itself the possibility of resistance, rebellion, and protest, while freedom can only be understood through confrontation with domination. Thus, family is neither inevitably the tomb of freedom and anarchoracy, nor a guaranteed source of emancipation; rather, it is a terrain where both possibilities coexist.

The transition from an authoritarian to an emancipatory family is therefore possible but conditional. It does not occur automatically, nor is it simply the result of time or natural development. Instead, it requires a conscious and profound transformation at three fundamental levels:

• Power Structure: A reconfiguration of the distribution and circulation of power within the family — moving away from hierarchical, one-sided authority (parent over child, man over woman) toward more horizontal, participatory, and dialogue-based patterns.
• Modes of Communication: Moving beyond the language of domination — command, prohibition, control, and hidden or explicit violence — toward a language of dialogue, mutual listening, and fostering the “individual voice” of each member. In the emancipatory family, communication is not a tool of power, but a space for free expression and the formation of independent identity.
• Fundamental Values: Replacing values based on blind obedience, unconditional loyalty, and the reproduction of authoritarian traditions with values such as dignity, autonomy, shared responsibility, and freedom-in-relation. Only through such a shift can family transform from a “school of domination” into a “workshop of emancipation.”

Thus, as the primary institution of socialization, family becomes the locus where both domination and emancipation are produced and reproduced. Which of these forces prevails depends on the awareness of its members, educational practices, and the family’s critical capacity. The transition to an emancipatory family is not a simple or final event but an ongoing dialectical process of struggle, possible only through rethinking power, language, and values.

✅ Rethinking Authority

In the authoritarian family, authority is equated with command, control, and unilateral supervision. This domination manifests along a wide spectrum:

• From the traditional patriarchal family, where all domains of life fall under the father’s absolute rule and the pyramid of power rests on unconditional obedience. This classical image has been reproduced in societies for centuries.
• To authoritarian, rigid, or even permissive families where power hierarchies still shape all relationships.

Even in modern times, although families appear more “democratic,” this familial democracy often mirrors the broader political model of democracy that, at the social level, operates as a more complex form of domination. Here, freedom and equality may appear possible, but domination re-emerges in subtler, more insidious forms — through the language of affection, educational institutions, or even the modern ideals of “choice” and “participation.”

By contrast, in the emancipatory family, authority is fundamentally redefined: not as command power, but as ethical value, shared responsibility, and mutual commitment. In such an environment:

• All members, according to their capacities, share in decision-making.
• Parents are not commanders or rulers but companions and facilitators of growth.
• The family is neither a school for indoctrinating values, nor a barracks for blind obedience, nor a temple for moral or religious preaching.

The emancipatory family is best conceived as an open circle, where no one possesses intrinsic superiority based on status, gender, or age. Relationships are built on trust, emotional security, and freedom of thought and expression. Authority here is nothing but the capacity to create safety for cognitive, emotional, and moral engagement with the world. Authority is thus not erased but transformed — from domination into an emancipatory and ethical power.

✅ From Obedience to Self-Governance

In the domination-centered family, the “obedient child” is the educational ideal. The child’s psyche is shaped by an unequal exchange: sacrificing spontaneity and autonomy in return for psychological security, approval, and acceptance. In this way, the desire for security through dependency replaces the desire for self-determination. The child learns that his or her value is recognized only when conforming to family expectations, laws, and norms. This mechanism plants the seeds of submissiveness, passivity, and blind obedience — seeds that later reproduce in social and political relationships.

By contrast, in the anarchoratic family (non-hierarchical, with equal distribution of power), the “responsibly autonomous child” becomes the ideal. Such a child:

• Exercises choice and gains firsthand experience without living under constant fear of failure.
• Expresses emotions openly, owning them without suppression, shame, or imposition.
• Practices independence and will, grounding behavior in dignity.
• Derives self-worth not from external validation but from self-awareness and self-acceptance.
• Learns equal dialogue, participates in decisions, and experiences mutual dignity.

In this way, the child raised in an anarchoratic family grows not into a compliant soldier but into a self-governing, ethically grounded human being. The transition from obedience to self-governance is neither simple nor instantaneous; it requires specific conditions provided by the family:

• Acceptance of error and failure: Mistakes must be seen as part of growth. The emancipatory family treats failure as a learning experience rather than a stigma.
• Opportunity for free choice: Only through real, tangible choices can the child learn personal responsibility. Freedom of choice is the precondition for forming will.
• Learning through living: The family becomes a school of life, where children experience its ups and downs and learn directly from them.
• Ethics without domination: The family serves as a site of ethical practice rooted in respect and responsibility, not in imposed rules or fear.
• Emotional expression without judgment: Feelings are recognized without being hastily labeled “good” or “bad.” Children thus learn to recognize, accept, and express emotions authentically.

A family that creates these conditions becomes a secure space for independent thinking, non-dominative ethics, and the growth of autonomy. Such a family is not an endpoint but the starting ground for a process: the formation of individuals who learn self-governance at home and then extend it into the broader society.

Reference:

Sadeghi Janbahan, M. (2025). Family Anarchology and Anarchopathology: Family as the Birthplace and Tomb of Anarcocracy (6/10). Retrieved from https://anarchology.blogfa.com