... by claiming in Political Liberalism that the nature of the family should automatically belong to the basic structure of society, along with "...the political constitution, the legally recognised forms of property and the organisation of the economy."2 However, Okin disagrees with Rawls on a number of other points and she sets out to challenge some of the ideas that he puts across. Rawls is not the only political theorist who believes that the public and the private sphere should be separate, but he is perhaps the easiest to reference in this context. He states that because families are based in affection, they do not need to be organised around principles of justice; "...the political is distinct from the personal and the familial, which are affectional...in ways the political is not."3 However, Okin feels that Rawls is contradicting himself here. How, she questions, can families be deemed as part of the basic ...

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