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The Normalising Power Of Marriage Law: An Irish Genealogy, 1945-2010, Deirdre Mcgowan
The Normalising Power Of Marriage Law: An Irish Genealogy, 1945-2010, Deirdre Mcgowan
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Marriage law is often conceptualised as an instrument of power that illegitimately imposes the will of the State on its citizens. Paradoxically, marriage law is also offered as a route to liberation. In this thesis, I question the efficacy of this type of analysis by investigating the actual power effects of marriage law. Using Michel Foucault’s concepts of bio-power and government, and his genealogical approach to history, I identify the role played by marriage law in governing the social domain over a discrete period of Irish history. Drawing on this analysis I suggest that marriage law is part of a …