Feuds about Families: Conservative, Centrist, Liberal, and Feminist Perspectives by Nijole V. Benokraitis

I. INTRODUCTION.

1. Norval D. Glenn, Who's Who in the Family Wars: A Characterization of the Major Ideological Factions.

2. Nijole V. Benokraitis, How Family Wars Affect Us: Four Models of Family Change and Their Consequences.

II. DEFINING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY ISSUES.

3. Current Perspectives on the Family.

Conservative: Patrick F. Fagan, The Breakdown of the Family. Centrist: Jean Elshtain, Enola Aird, Amitai Etzioni, William Galston, Mary Ann Glendon, Martha Minow, and Alice Rossi, A Communitarian Position on the Family. Liberal/Feminist: Stephanie Coontz, Why We Miss the 1950s.

4. Family Values.

Conservative: James Q. Wilson, The Family-Values Debate. Centrist: Dennis Orthner, The Revolution in Family Norms. Liberal/Feminist: Arlene Skolnick and Stacey Rosencrantz, The New Crusade for the Old Family.

5. Women's and Men's Family Roles.

Conservative: George Gilder, Women Should Domesticate Men for Marriage. Centrist: Maggie Gallagher, Gender Roles: A Taboo Subject. Liberal/Feminist: Betty Carter and Joan K. Peters, Remaking Marriage and Family Roles.

III. LOVE, SEX, AND MARRIAGE.

6. Love and Courtship.

Conservative: Leon Kass, The End of Courtship. Centrist: Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan,Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton, Love and Individualism. Liberal/Feminist: Carol Tavris, Women as Love's Experts and Love's Victims.

7. Sex and Cohabitation.

Conservative: Laura Schlessinger, Stupid Cohabitation: The Ultimate Female Self-Delusion. Centrist: William J. Doherty, How Therapists Threaten Marriages. Liberal/Feminist: Andrea Martin, Why Get Married?

8. Marriage.

Conservative: Steven Flanders, The Benefits of Marriage. Centrist: Linda J. Waite, Social Science Finds: “Marriage Matters.” Liberal/Feminist: Karen R. Blaisure and Katherine R. Allen, Feminism and Marital Equality.

IV. PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

9. Single-Parent Families.

Conservative: Bryce Christensen, Imperiled Infants. Centrist: David Popenoe, The Carnage of Declining Marriage and Fatherhood. Liberal/Feminist: Judith Stacey, The Father Fixation.

10. Raising Children.

Conservative: Den A. Trumbull and S. DuBose Ravenel, Spare the Rod? Centrist: John P. Bartkowski and Christopher G. Ellison, Conservative vs. Mainstream Models of Childrearing in Popular Manuals. Liberal/Feminist: Murray S. Straus, Ten Myths that Perpetuate Corporal Punishment.

11. Gay and Lesbian Families.

Conservative: Lawrence F. Burtoft, Gay Parenting and the Developmental Needs of Children. Centrist: Barbara F. Okun, Gay and Lesbian Parenting. Liberal/Feminist: Thomas B. Stoddard, Why Gay People Should Seek the Right to Marry.

V. WORK, RACE, ETHNICITY, AND SOCIAL CLASS VARIATIONS.

12. Work and Family Life.

Conservative: Family Research Council, Children's Needs and Parents' Careers. Centrist: Dana Mack, Parenting, Bureaucratic Style. Liberal/Feminist: Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers, Ozzie and Harriet Are Dead.

13. Racial and Ethnic Diversity.

Conservative: Stephan Thernstrom and Abigail Thernstrom,Black Family Structure and Poverty. Centrist: Amitai Etzioni, Multiculturalism or One People? Liberal/Feminist: Lynet Uttal, Racial Safety and Cultural Maintenance in Childcare.

14. The Impact of Social Class.

Conservative: Carl F. Horowitz, Searching for the White Underclass. Centrist: Susan E. Mayer, What Money Can't Buy. Liberal/Feminist: Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein, Making Ends Meet.

VI. FAMILY CRISES AND TRANSITIONS.

15. Family Violence.

Conservative: Patricia Pearson, Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. Centrist: Richard J. Gelles, Myths about Family Violence. Liberal/Feminist: Russell P. Dobash, R. Emerson Dobash, Margo Wilson, and Martin Daly, The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence.

16. Divorce.

Conservative: Glenn T. Stanton, Finding Fault with No-Fault Divorce. Centrist: Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Dismantling the Divorce Culture. Liberal/Feminist: Demie Kurz, Why Women Seek Divorce.

17. Remarriage and Stepfamilies.

Conservative: William A. Heth, Why Remarriage Is Wrong. Centrist: David Blankenhom, The Stepfather as Nonfather. Liberal/Feminist: Sarah Turner, My Wife-in-Law and Me: Reflections on a Joint-Custody Stepparenting Relationship.

18. Family Policies.

Conservative: Charles Murray, What Government Must Do to Reduce Welfare. Centrist: Laura A. Wilson and Robert P. Stoker, Is Federal Welfare Reform Helping or Hurting Poor Families? Liberal/Feminist: Ruth Sidel, Abandoning Poor Families.