Red
Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture,
by Naomi Cahn
(GW, law) and June
Carbone (UMKC, law) is now available from Oxford
University Press. From the OUP
product description:
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.
Congrats to Naomi and June!
(Naomi is also the author of Test
Tube Families: Why the Fertility
Market Needs Legal Regulation – NYU Press, and both Cahn and Carbone are contributors to Baby
Markets: Money and the New Politics of Creating Families)