Families in the media: Reflections on the public scrutiny of private behavior

Families come by a variety of pathways to be families in the media, and eac h provides the setting or opportunity Sor the public scrutiny of private be haviors. This address discerns underlying connections between the disparate experiences of families who hale come to be in the public eye and reasons toward some deeper truths about the interweave of our public life and priva te selves. The address is organized around three themes: the family as the proper domain of private behavior the social functions of public scrutiny o f private behaviors, and the structural dimensions of public scrutiny: I co nclude that morality is the bridge that brings public sensibilities into ou r private lives and private sensitivities into the public domain, and as su ch it needs to be taken up as a topic for empirical exploration, demystifie d, and explained.