9.04.2008

The Return of Patriarchy

Where was I when this was written over two years ago? I just heard about it (another hat tip to GL). It's a piece by Phillip Longman of the New America Foundation. His thesis is:
"Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. Governments are desperate to halt the trend, but their influence seems to stop at the bedroom door. Are some societies destined to become extinct? Hardly. It’s more likely that conservatives will inherit the Earth. Like it or not, a growing proportion of the next generation will be born into families who believe that father knows best."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree with Longman's analysis of the problem. I am less hopeful, at least in the short term, about the rise of a new generation of patriarchs -- in the long run, those who choose life over suicide will, of course, prevail. The problem is that parents of large families not only have to have many children for this prediction to come true, they must successfully catechize those children to have and maintain for themselves and their descendants the same beliefs about the value of children and of life. In our society, that is an uphill battle.