The Politics of Parenthood

Laurel Elder, Steven Greene

Description

Certain events in one's life, such as marriage, joining the workforce, and growing older, can become important determinants of political attitudes and voting choice. Each of these events has been the subject of considerable study, but in The Politics of Parenthood, Laurel Elder and Steven Greene look at the political impact of one of life's most challenging adult experiences—having and raising children. Using a comprehensive array of both quantitative and qualitative analyses, Elder and Greene systematically reveal for the first time how the very personal act of raising a family is also a politically defining experience, one that shapes the political attitudes of Americans on a range of important policy issues. They document how political parties, presidential candidates, and the news media have politicized parenthood and the family over not just one election year, but the last several decades. They conclude that the way the themes of parenthood and the family have evolved as partisan issues at the mass and elite levels has been driven by, and reflects fundamental shifts in, American society and the structure of the American family.
1. Parenthood is Political

2. The Politics of the Changing American Family

3. “Family Values” vs. “Champion of Working Families”: Parenthood, Families, and the Political Parties

4. The Rise of Politicized Moms and Dads: Media Coverage of Parenthood

5. The Political Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers

6. Marriage, Race, and the Politics of Parenthood

7. The Consequences and Future of the Politics of Parenthood

Notes
References

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 17 juillet 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438443966
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Politics of Parenthood
Causes and Consequences of the Politicization and Polarization of the American Family
Laurel Elder
and
Steven Greene

Cover photo credit: © Ryan Burke/ iStockphoto.com
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2012 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Elder, Laurel.
The politics of parenthood : causes and consequences of the politicization and polarization of the American family / Laurel Elder and Steven Greene.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4395-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Parenthood—United States. 2. Families—United States. 3. Parenthood— United States—Public opinion. 4. Families—United States—Public opinion. 5. United States—Politics and government. I. Greene, Steven. II. Title.
HQ755.8.E367 2012
306.874—dc23
2011047985
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To our parents: Carol and Richard Elder; Hilde and Robert Greene
Tables and Figures

Tables
Table 2.1. The Changing Context of Parenting in the United States
Table 3.1. Descriptive Statistics of Parent-Family References by Document Type, 1952–2009
Table 3.2. OLS Regression of Parent-Family Mentions by Year and Party, 1952–2009
Table 3.3. Partisan Language about the Family and Parenthood in the 1950s and 1960s
Table 3.4. Partisan Uses of Family and Parent Language to Frame Governing Philosophy
Table 4.1. OLS Regression of Number of Articles by Year, 1952–2008
Table 4.2. Articles with Parent-Family Themes by Year
Table 4.3. Political Party Mentioned in Parent-Family-Themed Articles
Table 5.1. Bivariate Comparisons of Parenthood, Gender, and Social Welfare Attitudes by Decade
Table 5.2. Bivariate Comparisons of Parenthood, Gender, and Defense / Foreign Policy Attitudes by Decade
Table 5.3. Bivariate Comparisons of Parenthood, Gender, and Cultural Values Issues by Decade
Table 5.4. Bivariate Comparisons of Parenthood, Gender, Vote Choice, Ideology, and Partisanship by Decade
Table 5.5. Summary of Parenthood Effects, 1970–2008
Table 6.1. Social Welfare Attitudes by Parenthood with Demographic Controls
Table 6.2. Iraq War Attitudes by Parenthood with Demographic Controls
Table 6.3. Abortion Attitudes by Parenthood with Demographic Controls
Table 6.4. Gay Marriage Attitudes by Parenthood with Demographic Controls
Table 6.5. Political Ideology by Parenthood with Demographic Controls
Table 6.6. Republican Vote by Parenthood with Demographic Controls

Figures
Figure 2.1. Traditional Gender Role Attitudes in Recent Decades
Figure 3.1. Party Platforms. Total Parent-Family References
Figure 3.2. Party Platforms. Parent-Family References Controlling for Platform Length
Figure 3.3. Convention Speeches. Parent-Family References
Figure 3.4. State of the Union Addresses. Parent-Family References, 1952–2009
Figure 3.5. Inaugural Addresses. Parent-Family References 1953–2009
Figure 4.1. News Stories with Parent-Family Themes by Presidential Election Year
Figure 4.2. Party and Media Use of Parent-Family Themes
Figure 4.3. Articles with Parent-Family Themes and Terminology
Figure 4.4. Central Issue Focus of Parent-Family Themed Articles Over Time
Figure 4.5. Political Party Mentioned in Parent-Family Themed Articles by Year
Figure 4.6. Media Portrayals of the Partisanship of Parents-Families
Figure 4.7. Media Portrayals of the Ideology of Parents-Families Over Time
Figure 5.1. Education Spending by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.2. Education Spending by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.3. Jobs / Standard of Living by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.4. Jobs / Standard of Living by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.5. Government Services by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.6. Government Services by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.7. Defense Spending by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.8. Defense Spending by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.9. Abortion by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.10. Abortion by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.11. Party Identification by Parenthood (Women Only)
Figure 5.12. Party Identification by Parenthood (Men Only)
Figure 5.13. Party Identification by Parenthood and Gender (with Trendlines)
Acknowledgments
A book this long in the making means a lot of people to thank. We definitely need to start with the many friends and mentors in the Ohio State Political Science department, where we began our friendship—if not our collaboration. Paul Beck was the best adviser either of us could ask for in guiding us through our respective dissertations and later provided advice and support for this project. Likewise, Herb Weisberg was a tremendous mentor and adviser to both of us at Ohio State and in the early stages of this research. Other Ohio State faculty: Tom Nelson, Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Dean Lacy, William E. Nelson, Katherine Tate, Kira Sanbonmatsu, Aage Clausen, Gregory Caldeira, Elliot Slotnick, Lawrence Baum, and Samuel Patterson provided great guidance during our time there, as did Retta Semones. Our peers from Ohio State, especially Joe McGarvey, Stefanie Chambers, Jason Pigg, Pedro Magalhães, and Barry Burden also very much deserve recognition for being such supportive friends.
This book has been the result of numerous conference presentations as well as discussions with peers and colleagues. Among those most valuable in shaping and aiding our work, we would like to thank Lois Duke-Whitaker, Craig Brians, Kyle Saunders, Andrew Seligsohn, and Zoe Oxley. We are also grateful to many additional political scientists, too numerous to mention, who provided valuable feedback and insight on our conference papers and journal manuscripts related to this project. The anonymous reviewers, including those for this book, proved especially valuable.
At Hartwick College several students served as excellent research assistants on this project including Jennifer Bezanson ‘07, Jennifer Lonergan ‘09, and Caitlin Hill ‘09. Laurel's father Richard Elder also edited and gave sage advice on several chapters of the book for which we are very grateful. The members of the Political Science Department at Hartwick, both past and present, have not only been wonderful colleagues, but have always been supportive of this research. We are grateful to Hartwick College for providing support for this project, including a Faculty Research Grant. At North Carolina State, members of the School of Public and International Affairs, especially Mike Cobb, Richard Clerkin, Bill Boettcher, Michael Struett, and Charlie Coe were always ready with feedback and support. Two NCSU undergraduates, Mark Yacoub '09 and Elizabeth Ivey '08, were instrumental in our work on chapter four.
Of course, we could not have done this without the help and support of our families and our friends. Laurel is especially grateful for the patience and love of her husband Mike, her daughter Indigo, and her poodle Henry who sat on her lap throughout most of the writing of this book. Laurel would also like to thank Steve who always believed they could finish and publish this book, even when she was not so sure. Steve went from a father of one to a father of four during the course of this project and could not have done it without the support and advice of his wife Kim. It is obligatory to thank your family for all the time away while you were working on the book. In this case, that's not necessary, which is why this book took so long. He would be remiss, though, not to acknowledge the four who make this title especially relevant to him and so slowed his progress: David, Alex, Evan, and Sarah.
At SUNY Press we would especially like to thank Michael Rinella who always believed in this project and stuck with us longer than we deserved. The rest of SUNY Press has been a model of professionalism in bringing this book to press.
Finally, we wish to thank our parents, to whom we dedicate this book, for love and support and encouraging our own love of politics.
1
Parenthood Is Political
This book is an exploration into how parenthood and the family have become politicized in American politics. Despite the centrality of raising children in the lives of many voters, and despite the emergence and prominence of topics concerning parents and the family within the national political debate, parenthood has not been a central focus in political science scholarship. There are very few acts more personal and intense in life than raising children. In this book we show how this very personal and intense act of raising a family is a politically defining experience and has come front and center into the political debate.
The central argument of this book is that parenthood is political. The transition to parenthood introduces dramatic and long-term changes into the lives of adults. Becoming a parent and r