Dobson had outsized influence in boosting authoritarianism among evangelicals
Focus on the Family founder, bestselling author and political activist dies at 89
Walk in the home of almost any evangelical couple raising children during the 1970s and into the ’80s, and chances are that you could find a copy of James C. Dobson’s Dare to Discipline (1970) on the bookshelf. Just as Dr. Spock, as pediatrician Benjamin Spock was known, was wildly influential in the general U.S. culture of the ’50s and ’60s for his bestselling book on child care, so was Dr. Dobson a generation later for his bestselling book about child-raising for those in the evangelical subculture.
And that was no accident: Among evangelicals, already more conservative than the population as a whole, Spock received a share of the blame for the counterculture and anti-Vietnam War movement of the ’60s and ’70s. Dobson wrote his book — one that went on to sell millions of copies, and extraordinary amount for a religious book other than the Bible — partly as a response to Spock.
Dobson died early today at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo., leaving behind a legacy of unwavering advocacy for conservative Christian causes.
Like Spock, Dobson had credentials on his side: He was awarded a doctorate in child development by the University of Southern California in 1967, and he became an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at USC’s medical school. But Dobson was no Spock: While Spock’s approach to parenting was widely seen, although not always accurately, as permissive, Dobson’s approach, as the book’s title suggests, was anything but that. He became known as one of the top advocates for corporal punishment, and his combination of academic credentials and theological background — his family of origin included three generations of Nazarene ministers, including his father, a traveling evangelist — gave him unassailable credibility in his target audience.
Convinced that the rebellion and other problems he was seeing in his clinical practice stemmed from a breakdown of the American family, his answer was to take a more hierarchical, authoritarian approach than anything Spock had advocated: Parents need to teach their children from an early age that they are responsible for obeying their parents, and he advocated corporal punishment beginning at around 15 months. He did temper his approach by advising parents to be affectionate with their children after spanking them, but overall his message was that failure to discipline will lead to rebellion. Many of his later books, totaling more than 30 and including titles such as The Strong-Willed Child and Love Must Be Tough: New Hope for Families in Crisis, echoed that theme. He also counseled that fathers should be the breadwinners and that mothers should not work outside the home before their children turn 18.
As historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez explained in her book Jesus and John Wayne:
Dobson’s authority rested on his training as a psychologist, but his evangelical faith informed his ideas about child-rearing. Whereas Dr. Spock promoted a nurturing approach to parenthood, advising parents to trust their instincts and treat their children with affection and leniency, Dobson saw children as naturally sinful creatures, inclined toward defiance and rebellion.
... Dare to Discipline wasn’t just a guide to child-rearing. Owing to the social upheaval of the 1960, the behavior of America’s youth had risen to a level of national concern. The reasssertion of an authoritarian family structure would preserve order, discipline and security — not only of the family but of the nation.
Dobson’s success with his book led him away from his clinical practice to full-time advocacy. In 1977 he founded Focus on the Family, launching an international radio program to promote conservative values; the radio show grew to have millions of weekly listeners worldwide. Focus on the Family was created two years before Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, and it was Dobson’s influence at least as much as Falwell’s that fostered evangelical support for the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Dobson later would focus on uncompromising opposition to homosexuality, abortion and pornography, and he became a key player in the expansion of social conservatism in the Republican Party. He was a supporter of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential primaries, but he came around to support Donald Trump and backed him in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections.
Dobson also was a strong critic of presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Last year he signed an open letter to Biden warning him that “the moral and constitutional framework that sustains our Republic is at risk of collapsing due to your ill-advised and un-American policies.”
Unlike some leaders within the religious right, Dobson led a life free of scandal. He did not use his fame to build an economic power base and, according to recent news reports, had a fairly modest lifestyle.
Dobson is survived by his wife, née Shirley Deere, whom he married in 1960; two children; and two grandchildren.