64
CREATING FUTURES
Indifference about the crisis of family in contemporary society tends to exacerbate the situation. After all, is it not contradictory to be a g a i n s t economic laissez-faire yet for family laissez-faire? In both instances, individual freedom can not be exercised without a framework of rules established in the common interest. The anti-globalization activists really should question family responsibility when considering inequalities. Economic differences are actually reinforced by social inequalities. In fact, by not intervening preventively, society finds itself unprepared for the rise in violence and thus reacts repressively. Society is also always granting more funds to prisons, security, social assistance, urbanization and even education. Yet these policies are often misguided because the problems are not simply material in nature. A family environment in which parents pay attention to raising children and encourage their development is a decisive comparative advantage in a child's personal, and ultimately professional life. On the other hand, absent or tyrannical parents pile a heavy load on their children in the form of psychological baggage t h a t some victims find difficult to shed. Unhappy families make for dangerous cities, but a carrot-and-stick penal system provides little remedy for such affective problems. Sometimes a disaffected youth simply needs the patience ofa family member willing to listen. Ifsuch a person is absent, then society must find a surrogate. The judicial system has unfortunately played a participatory role in social disintegration. For example, by systematically granting custody to the mother,judges facilitate the rise ofdistant, even absent, fathers. Judges, like the media, are currently rediscovering the structural importance of a stable family, and some judges are requiring the whole family to take an active role in juvenile rehabilitation. The family oftwo parents remains the majority in France, where seven out of ten adults live as a couple. Eight out often ofthose couples are married and nine out often have been married only once. At the end of the day, three-quarters of all people under the age of 18 live with a mother and father together in the same household. As usual, however, we end up talking about the exception rather than the rule. Happy families are an important component to a more virtuous society, however they are not enough. There are issues ofliving conditions, sustainable development, and lastly the search for some meaning to life because an accumulation ofwealth cannot compensate for the loneliness that attends contemporary existence that is often bereft ofmeaningful social interaction. These areas must be considered collectively with new, commonly shared, more legitimate answers as part ofbetter public governance; in other words, a real participatory democracy. At their zenith, ancient Greece and Rome imposed not only powers, but also duties and obligations upon the richest and most powerful members of society. Paul Veyne lists the virtues of classical society; notably, private liberties in favour of the public. In other words, as Laurent Gille