Red Families and Blue Families
Ronald Green, Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values
Topic 

In Red Families and Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture, Naomi Cahn and June Carbone argue that the emergence of an information economy has led to the creation of two family paradigms in the United States. Blue families celebrate marital equality and encourage their children to defer marriage and childbearing, while red families stress the unity of sex, marriage, and procreation, opposing new forms of family and sexual liberty. Yet states with red family values also experience the highest rates of teen pregnancy and divorce. Cahn and Carbone trace the underlying social forces that shape these paradigms and reinforce their influence on American political life. They end with recommendations for easing the red–blue divide.