The Rainbow Family

The Rainbow Family is a community that originated in the United States in 1972, spread from there across the world, and has since pursued its utopian vision of non-hierarchy and equality at its gatherings. This book provides an insight into the historical development of the community, its organisation, ideological basis, and values. It then presents various theories on egalitarian societies, gender (role) images and gender stereotypes in Western patriarchal societies, as well as the upheavals that are currently shaping them. Based on these theories, the material collected qualitatively at four Rainbow Gatherings was analysed with regard to gender role images at the community's meetings. Finally, the focus was on how learned social structures are reflected within the Rainbow Family and whether the community manages to break down the gender order common in Western patriarchal society in order to realise its non-hierarchical and egalitarian ideology in its communal life.