I think your desire to examine more than just "capitalism" is the right approach. I think it shows the type of intellectual rigor it takes to come to the right conclusions.

I call "non-capitalistic" behaviors philosophically similar to markets because of the amount of choice they involve and the lack of mandates. Granted, when families are viewed on a micro scale, this framework is not sufficient. My rationale is that children are children. However, when viewed as a whole, families exhibit market behavior just like any corporation.