The authors of this book discuss how actual differences in the way that people live, and form families, create differences in how people perceive value issues. They explore how economic change underlies these different lifestyles, and what this means to American families. They support their assertions with data.
Traditional/conservative communities form families retain the expectations of the early 20th century, and form families just as our great-grandparents did. Tying sex to marriage, and abstinence before marriage, and key values--they marry earlier, have more pregnancies, more unplanned pregnancies, and get less education. Because folks are expected to marry young, the expectation is that they will bend to the authority of older family members and the church. Because they do marry young, finding an holding a "good job" is very difficult--they correctly perceive that even if they follow the "right path," they struggle. For those who fall off the right path, early pregnancies have catastrophic effects on their future ability to prosper. Being unemployable has a way of making you "not marriage material"; so marriage is declining in traditional communities, with more bad effects on family.
"Blue" families have figured out that they need lots of education to get a "good job"; their kids stay in school or professional training until they're in their late 20s or early 30s. All of this depends on contraception--it all falls apart if the women get pregnant by accident. There is no expectation that their children will be chaste until marriage (which will occur after law school, grad school, post-docs, etc.). "Responsibility," which means having babies when you're well established, is an important value and these folks marry each other, are more likely to stay married, hold down "real jobs" that support families, etc. This group also sees marriage as a stabilizing force--so why shouldn't their gay kids benefit from marriage? They have fertility problems because of late marriage.
This is a very cursory overview, there's much more to this book. These authors point out that both "red" and "blue" families share many of the same dreams and aspirations, and they point to ways of overcoming culture war rhetorical excesses and developing solutions that would benefit all families.
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Reprint edition (October 1, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0199836817
- ISBN-13: 978-0199836819
- Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 23 customer reviews
-
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#819,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2111 in Ethnic Demographic Studies
- #852 in Political Ideologies
- #114 in Domestic Relations Family Law (Books)
Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?
