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Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture
Red Families v. Blue Families identifies a new family model geared for the post-industrial economy. Rooted in the urban middle class, the coasts and the "blue states" in the last three presidential elections, the Blue Family Paradigm emphasizes the importance of women's as well as men's workforce participation, egalitarian gender roles, and the delay of family formation until both parents are emotionally and financially ready. By contrast, the Red Family Paradigm--associated with the Bible Belt, the mountain west, and rural America--rejects these new family norms, viewing the change in moral and sexual values as a crisis. In this world, the prospect of teen childbirth is the necessary deterrent to premarital sex, marriage is a sacred undertaking between a man and a woman, and divorce is society's greatest moral challenge. Yet, the changing economy is rapidly eliminating the stable, blue collar jobs that have historically supported young families, and early marriage and childbearing derail the education needed to prosper. The result is that the areas of the country most committed to traditional values have the highest divorce and teen pregnancy rates, fueling greater calls to reinstill traditional values.
Featuring the groundbreaking research first hailed in The New Yorker, this penetrating book will transform our understanding of contemporary American culture and law. The authors show how the Red-Blue divide goes much deeper than this value system conflict--the Red States have increasingly said "no" to Blue State legal norms, and, as a result, family law has been rent in two. The authors close with a consideration of where these different family systems still overlap, and suggest solutions that permit rebuilding support for both types of families in changing economic circumstances.
Incorporating results from the 2008 election, Red Families v. Blue Families will reshape the debate surrounding the culture wars and the emergence of red and blue America.
Featuring the groundbreaking research first hailed in The New Yorker, this penetrating book will transform our understanding of contemporary American culture and law. The authors show how the Red-Blue divide goes much deeper than this value system conflict--the Red States have increasingly said "no" to Blue State legal norms, and, as a result, family law has been rent in two. The authors close with a consideration of where these different family systems still overlap, and suggest solutions that permit rebuilding support for both types of families in changing economic circumstances.
Incorporating results from the 2008 election, Red Families v. Blue Families will reshape the debate surrounding the culture wars and the emergence of red and blue America.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 6, 2012
The authors’ stated intentions for this book was to find out “whether red families differ from blue ones… to see if we could find a geographic pattern in the statistics that corresponded to our understandings of red v. blue family strategies.” Their primary tactic for doing this is to look at overall state averages regarding a number of different issues, in an attempt to describe cultural patterns.
As I was reading the introduction, a statistic jumped out at me: “Thirty percent of American girls will become pregnant before they turn 20, and 80% of the pregnancies are unplanned.” This seemed extremely high to me, so I tried to find confirmation of this via the CDC and Department of Human and Health Services, to no avail. This statistic had no citation in the notes either (although other reports which are referenced do have footnotes), and this trend continued throughout the introduction. Similarly, in the first chapter, a chart lists the median age of marriage for men and women alongside the mean age of the woman at the first birth; by listing median and mean on the same chart, the two are being compared when they represent very different statistics (median is the middle of the range, mean is the average).
Overall, I think that this book is attempting to address more than it can actually encompass within the page limitations. The subtitle is “legal polarization and the creation of culture,” but it goes back and forth between addressing regional and political issues, focusing heavily on reproductive and gender role controversies. Although in topics it does manage to address, many interesting points and studies are cited, there are flaws as noted above.
As I was reading the introduction, a statistic jumped out at me: “Thirty percent of American girls will become pregnant before they turn 20, and 80% of the pregnancies are unplanned.” This seemed extremely high to me, so I tried to find confirmation of this via the CDC and Department of Human and Health Services, to no avail. This statistic had no citation in the notes either (although other reports which are referenced do have footnotes), and this trend continued throughout the introduction. Similarly, in the first chapter, a chart lists the median age of marriage for men and women alongside the mean age of the woman at the first birth; by listing median and mean on the same chart, the two are being compared when they represent very different statistics (median is the middle of the range, mean is the average).
Overall, I think that this book is attempting to address more than it can actually encompass within the page limitations. The subtitle is “legal polarization and the creation of culture,” but it goes back and forth between addressing regional and political issues, focusing heavily on reproductive and gender role controversies. Although in topics it does manage to address, many interesting points and studies are cited, there are flaws as noted above.
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September 23, 2010Although I found the ideas in this book to be important and interesting, I just couldn't get into it for several reasons. First, they took entire chapters to say something that could easily be said in a paragraph. Second (and related): the book is boring. Third, I wasn't really sure what the authors wanted me to get out of the book. The introduction made grand claims about their purpose, but I found it very difficult to describe the book to others, i.e. - there was not a central thesis. This does not make the book bad (I realize it is quite difficult to build a central thesis out of a very comprehensive review), but it made the book unappealing to me. If someone else would read the whole book and give me the bullet points, I'm sure I will love what they have to say...I just don't want to read 400 pages to find out.
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July 28, 2011Legal and societal critique are usually right up my alley but I found this book to be dull and one dimensional. It clearly proves its thesis : That red and blue states operate in vastly different ways so middle ground is often difficult to come by. It also proves quite clearly that the red state model is losing in terms of gay marriage, sex, and other areas. But there is just nothing special here. For a book about people's lives it is remarkably impersonal. Even when quoting legal situations, they don't bother to resolve what actually happened to these people besides the quick decision quotes. In the end you are left with something that is informative but lacks a sparrk.
August 1, 2018
Valuable premise, important ideas, very dull... Only in the second chapter and have already turned a few unfinished pages thinking "OK, I get it." But like I said, the idea is an important one.
November 18, 2018
c2010
Red families are falling back on their cultural beliefs to cushion their falling standard of life. They are not doing well financially because the unskilled and blue collar jobs are no longer plentiful in this country. Such jobs are moving to third world countries with their factories. The jobs that are left behind are jobs that require more education and these families in formerly rural and factory rich states don't focus on education. By focusing on controlling women's sexuality, they push women into less education, into having babies when they are younger than girls who go to college and beyond, into staying in unsatisfying marriages with men who are also unduly immature and poorly positioned economically. The result is children who have less opportunity, fewer resources, and more often experience divorce.
Blue Families value education and keep their girls in school even if they have to have an abortion which in fact they have few of because they emphasize sex education (or at least reproduction education) and contraception. Blue families emphasize girls getting enough education to support themselves in a style they would like to be accustomed to, later marriage, and planned families. It is not too surprising that blue families start later because girls get married later and they have the lowest divorce rates.
These very educated (women) authors are extremely cautious about the issue of sex. They identify that sex is a core issue. They say it over and over but they never say anything more. They could have speculated that sex education would have a possible role in preventing the unplanned pregnancies that red families are producing. They don't go into the domestic violence that occurs in red families or into what happens to women after they get their first divorce and find themselves a little liberated from the whole red paradigm. Neither do they discuss the rates of statutory rape and molest taking place in red families. They do talk about teenage girls getting pg but who is getting these girls pg? It's NOT teen boys.
If I may speculate beyond my field of expertise (sex) I would point out that this country is in a serious economic downturn that was deferred by the housing and financial services bubble. This situation is the equivalent of spreading the unemployment disease beyond the former factory and farming areas to housing foreclosure areas. All this is to say that the conditions that characterize red states are growing. The blue paradigm isn't going to grow in the face of this stimulus to red family patterns. Red families need jobs. This country needs jobs desperately if women are going to escape the downward spiral which is upon us.
Red families are falling back on their cultural beliefs to cushion their falling standard of life. They are not doing well financially because the unskilled and blue collar jobs are no longer plentiful in this country. Such jobs are moving to third world countries with their factories. The jobs that are left behind are jobs that require more education and these families in formerly rural and factory rich states don't focus on education. By focusing on controlling women's sexuality, they push women into less education, into having babies when they are younger than girls who go to college and beyond, into staying in unsatisfying marriages with men who are also unduly immature and poorly positioned economically. The result is children who have less opportunity, fewer resources, and more often experience divorce.
Blue Families value education and keep their girls in school even if they have to have an abortion which in fact they have few of because they emphasize sex education (or at least reproduction education) and contraception. Blue families emphasize girls getting enough education to support themselves in a style they would like to be accustomed to, later marriage, and planned families. It is not too surprising that blue families start later because girls get married later and they have the lowest divorce rates.
These very educated (women) authors are extremely cautious about the issue of sex. They identify that sex is a core issue. They say it over and over but they never say anything more. They could have speculated that sex education would have a possible role in preventing the unplanned pregnancies that red families are producing. They don't go into the domestic violence that occurs in red families or into what happens to women after they get their first divorce and find themselves a little liberated from the whole red paradigm. Neither do they discuss the rates of statutory rape and molest taking place in red families. They do talk about teenage girls getting pg but who is getting these girls pg? It's NOT teen boys.
If I may speculate beyond my field of expertise (sex) I would point out that this country is in a serious economic downturn that was deferred by the housing and financial services bubble. This situation is the equivalent of spreading the unemployment disease beyond the former factory and farming areas to housing foreclosure areas. All this is to say that the conditions that characterize red states are growing. The blue paradigm isn't going to grow in the face of this stimulus to red family patterns. Red families need jobs. This country needs jobs desperately if women are going to escape the downward spiral which is upon us.
December 18, 2017
This book helped me understand why I vote the way I do and the framework behind the "family values" I live with. Using plenty of statistics, the authors build a case for the politics of families, looking at issues of divorce, contraception, abortion, marriage, gender, and work. Same-sex marriage is also addressed, but this is one way the book shows its age (published in 2010, before a certain landmark Supreme Court decision.) Despite the numbers and statistics, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American politics.
January 20, 2018
This book contains some startling statistics that challenge both traditional and more liberal ideas about marriage, families, abortion, and contraception, among other issues. Sometimes the book gets bogged down in unnecessary minutiae. The authors also propose really fuzzy and questionable ways to bridge the red and blue cultural chasm.
April 4, 2010
A detailed and well-documented analysis of what ails American families from three vantage points: the Liberal/Left/Blue, the Conservative/Right/Red, and an integrative data-based stance. A thoughtful work worthy of consideration by individuals of all political persuasions.
February 21, 2013
The facts are stunning and disturbing. This book is full of statistics that demonstrate the cultural divide that the country is struggling with.
The "blue" regions, in general, have geared up for a post-industrial economy, with cultural emphasis on advanced education and delayed marriage and childbearing until both parents are prepared emotionally and financially.
The "red" state regions, on the contrary, continue to promote foremost the unity and sanctity of sex, marriage, and childbearing, ironically resulting in more out-of-wedlock births rather than fewer, higher rates of divorce, less educational attainment, and lower income and employment.
The situation of the successful continues to improve (success breeds success), while the situation of the struggling only worsens. Politically, the red states have fought against the blue state legal norms (involving sex education, contraception for minors, abortion, etc.) with the authors positing that this conservatism only worsens the socio-economic status of those on the lower rungs of society.
While the facts are fascinating, the book itself is somewhat dry, laden as it is with so many statistical studies. But those studies are invaluable in pointing out the problem and what might be done to alleviate it.
The "blue" regions, in general, have geared up for a post-industrial economy, with cultural emphasis on advanced education and delayed marriage and childbearing until both parents are prepared emotionally and financially.
The "red" state regions, on the contrary, continue to promote foremost the unity and sanctity of sex, marriage, and childbearing, ironically resulting in more out-of-wedlock births rather than fewer, higher rates of divorce, less educational attainment, and lower income and employment.
The situation of the successful continues to improve (success breeds success), while the situation of the struggling only worsens. Politically, the red states have fought against the blue state legal norms (involving sex education, contraception for minors, abortion, etc.) with the authors positing that this conservatism only worsens the socio-economic status of those on the lower rungs of society.
While the facts are fascinating, the book itself is somewhat dry, laden as it is with so many statistical studies. But those studies are invaluable in pointing out the problem and what might be done to alleviate it.
September 15, 2015
A very academic book with a lot of numbers and stats. I could see a college course having this as required reading.
While many parts of the book are outdated due to the recent changes in marriage and the ACA, the book was still pretty relevant. The framing of different perspectives was well done and while I don't agree with the opinions of those on the other side of the debate, I see how they came to their conclusions. The authors also work really hard to find areas where improvements can be made to further strengthen society and the development of families. I'm not sure I am sold on some of the underlying perspectives, but I won't go too deep into that in the review of the book :)
While many parts of the book are outdated due to the recent changes in marriage and the ACA, the book was still pretty relevant. The framing of different perspectives was well done and while I don't agree with the opinions of those on the other side of the debate, I see how they came to their conclusions. The authors also work really hard to find areas where improvements can be made to further strengthen society and the development of families. I'm not sure I am sold on some of the underlying perspectives, but I won't go too deep into that in the review of the book :)
March 12, 2013
An excellent companion to Charles Murray's Coming Apart: both benefit immensely from reading the other.
Though the basic thesis -- that America has two competing models of family formation that, roughly, correlate with how states vote for president -- is persuasive and illuminating. The first third, which deals with this, is highly, highly recommended. The book, unfortunately, loses some of its objectivity as it proceeds and also fails to address the huge swaths of the country that are either neither upwardly mobile enough to follow the Blue Model, or devout enough to follow the Red.
Though the basic thesis -- that America has two competing models of family formation that, roughly, correlate with how states vote for president -- is persuasive and illuminating. The first third, which deals with this, is highly, highly recommended. The book, unfortunately, loses some of its objectivity as it proceeds and also fails to address the huge swaths of the country that are either neither upwardly mobile enough to follow the Blue Model, or devout enough to follow the Red.
February 6, 2017
What makes this book a really valuable contribution to the current cultural discourse is how it presents solutions that are inherently bipartisan. To focus government resources on preserving families and ensuring better outcomes for children (which do tend to come more from two parent households or households where parents wait til later in life to have children) require both a sensitivity to local State mores and also ample support for contraceptive access, comprehensive health care and more flexible employment opportunities that don't automatically lead to drastic reductions in salary. Check it out.
August 3, 2010
Chock full of statistics, many on teen pregnancy... the book was definitely eye-opening for me. It did a good job of framing how "red families" and "blue families" each view the role of the family in society. But I was a little frustrated with the authors, who seemed to be making the same point again and again - with no practical solutions to the problems. Yes, minimizing teen pregnancy would be a good thing for society as a whole.... but how to do it effectively in different communities, with different views on relationships, marriage, contraception, abortion.... that's the problem.
January 13, 2011
I finished this last week, before the Arizona shooting underscored how the political divisiveness in our society can have very real, devastating effects. In retrospect, I admire how this book manages to cross that cultural divide. While the authors are unmistakably "blues," they make a strong case for how the private lives of each "side," in regards to families, marriage, sex, etc., are often closer to the publicly expressed values of the other; and how our public, legal and educational policies would do well to take the best from reds and blues.
February 7, 2015
I liked the idea of this book. However, it has the unfortunate timing of having been published right before major changes in US marital law, so there's a large portion of this book that needs rewriting to handle the changes. There's a lot that is thoughtful, but it's now outdated. I'd wait for a revised edition.
November 30, 2010
Red family: Higher divorce rates. Higher abortion rates. Higher teenage pregnancy rates. Lower median age for marriage. Higher poverty rates (200% below the poverty line.
Blue family: Well educated. Better equipped financially, emotionally and mentally about having a child.
This book was more of a validation than education. I learned some new statistics to back up the arguments.
Blue family: Well educated. Better equipped financially, emotionally and mentally about having a child.
This book was more of a validation than education. I learned some new statistics to back up the arguments.
May 7, 2012
Great book. It reiterated my ideas of abstinence and the red family paradigm of young marriage and traditional gender roles. That is abstinence doesn't work, the authors cite studies to prove this as well as marrying young with expectations of traditional gender roles can lead to higher rates of divorce when this doesn't come to fruition.
November 8, 2010
Great concepts presented and lots of food for thought, but the tone of the book was way too academic for me. Vignettes or anecdotes presented throughout (see Nicholas Kristof's book Half the Sky) would have made this an easier read.
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August 2, 2011You should read this book if you have any interest in how our families and notions of family interact with current politics, economics, and ideas about sexuality. Well written and researched and fairly even handed, although it's pretty obvious the authors are blue. I'm about 85% blue myself.
April 28, 2013
This is one of the best written books on modern family sociology.
The research and data is excellent, the writing concise and clear, and the tone refreshingly neutral in the oft controversial culture wars.
Highly recommended!
The research and data is excellent, the writing concise and clear, and the tone refreshingly neutral in the oft controversial culture wars.
Highly recommended!
June 8, 2016
Published in 2010, Red Families already feels out of date regarding both the state of family law and the conservative / liberal divide in America. That it’s also repetitive and statistic heavy to the detriment of actual analysis makes it a good book to skip. Not recommended.
Want to read
March 27, 2010I saw the authors speak on a panel at the George Washington University Law School. It's a very interesting subject, and I look forward to learning more about it.
Read
February 5, 2011I almost always finish a book, once I've started it, but I read a few pages of this and skimmed the rest. At that point finishing didn't seem worth it.
February 19, 2011
okay to skim for ideas - another one of those books I would have preferred as a long magazine article!
August 7, 2011
Just OK. No new ground here. Pretty much states the obvious.
Read
December 3, 2013"It's nice to see what became of work I first encountered in drafts presented at my Law School Workshop on Regulation of Family, Sex and Gender." - Mary Anne Case
July 23, 2017
I wish I had read this book when it first came out; it's extremely relevant to today's political climate.
September 5, 2018
Interesting - parts already felt dated. Written like a lit review.
July 4, 2022
O livro ensina como ter uma conversa construtiva em tempos de polarização. Vamos lembrar que uma conversa construtiva se dá somente a partir da escuta cuidadosa do outro, de seus pontos de vista e sentimentos. Nesse tipo de conversa, o falante e o interlocutor se percebem reciprocamente como tendo o mesmo poder e o mesmo lugar de fala. Desenvolver habilidades de escuta ativa, dando reconhecimento aos argumentos alheios, pontuando possíveis discordâncias e eventuais dúvidas é um ponto de partida interessante para que a conversa siga em absoluta harmonia.
Em tempo de cancelamento, como se blindar nas redes sociais?
Em primeiro lugar reconhecendo a existência do outro e respeitando as suas perspectivas e circunstâncias. Tratar o outro com cuidado, aceitar as diferenças de opinião e conciliar diálogos é um bom conselho. As palavras chave de nossa época não inclusão e conciliação.
Menos é mais na hora de dar sua opinião?
Preste atenção: é sempre saudável expressar sua opinião, quando pedem. Se ninguém pediu sua opinião, apenas ouça com atenção, cuidado e respeito. Importante: tenha sempre à mão uma garrafa de água para colocar na boca e evitar falar bobagem e de forma impulsiva, sem ser requisitado. Afinal, há horas em que o indivíduo fala somente para ouvir sua própria voz.
Em tempo de cancelamento, como se blindar nas redes sociais?
Em primeiro lugar reconhecendo a existência do outro e respeitando as suas perspectivas e circunstâncias. Tratar o outro com cuidado, aceitar as diferenças de opinião e conciliar diálogos é um bom conselho. As palavras chave de nossa época não inclusão e conciliação.
Menos é mais na hora de dar sua opinião?
Preste atenção: é sempre saudável expressar sua opinião, quando pedem. Se ninguém pediu sua opinião, apenas ouça com atenção, cuidado e respeito. Importante: tenha sempre à mão uma garrafa de água para colocar na boca e evitar falar bobagem e de forma impulsiva, sem ser requisitado. Afinal, há horas em que o indivíduo fala somente para ouvir sua própria voz.
December 15, 2019
I rushed through this book, so the low rating is partly my fault but the reason I had to rush was that even though the topic is fascinating, I just didn’t find the book engaging. It didn’t make me want to read it, which is tragically common for academic works.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews