Arts & Culture
The Formation of Intentional Communities and Their Conceptualization of Property and Kinship
Quick fact
In the 19th-century Oneida Community in New York, members practiced 'complex marriage' and communal child-rearing, rejecting nuclear family bonds to create a collective kinship structure, while all property was held in common—yet they became one of the most successful manufacturing enterprises of their time.
Why this is interesting
Imagine a neighborhood where you don't own your house, and you consider your best friend your sister. That's not fiction—it's the reality for thousands of people in intentional communities worldwide. How do these groups rewrite the rules of property and family?