“Modern neopatriarchy begins from the opposite fear; the concern is not communist collectivism, but liberal individualism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The neopatriarchs believe we live in an age where people prioritize self-actualization and fulfillment above all else. Young adults, they argue, live in extended adolescence, lost in some combination of video games, drugs, and casual sex; as they age, raw hedonism is replaced by single-minded foci on money and career. According to neopatriarchs, this liberal social model fails men and women alike, funneling them toward a spiritually empty existence that all but guarantees disappointment and depression, and it fails society by discouraging the production of children who are quite literally required if the country is to have a future. (Immigration, needless to say, is not seen as an acceptable solution.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution, for neopatriarchs, is to return to the past. Men need to rediscover the old John Wayne vision of masculinity, making traditional male gender markers (including acting as fatherly provider) into defining aspects of their identity. The state should play a role in encouraging this reversion, primarily by changing policy to cultivate \u201cmasculine\u201d virtues and incentivizing marriage and child-rearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his recent book Manhood<\/em>, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley urges men<\/a> to embrace strength and stoicism as routes for self-improvement, calling on them to take on the roles of \u201cwarrior\u201d and \u201cbuilder\u201d in their everyday lives. The psychologist Jordan Peterson has long dispensed similar advice<\/a>, helping turn him into a conservative guru. In his forthcoming book Dawn\u2019s Early Light<\/em>, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts argues that contraceptive technologies<\/a> \u201cbreak the most basic functioning elements of civilization\u201d by liberating individuals to have consequence-free sex out of wedlock. Vance, who wrote the forward to Roberts\u2019s book, has mused about eliminating no-fault divorce<\/a> for similar neopatriarchal reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neopatriarchy can be distinguished from straight-up patriarchy primarily through its treatment of women. Unlike some Christian fundamentalists or alt-right scribblers<\/a>, neopatriarchs do not assert that women are obligated<\/em> to be homemakers as a result of divine commandment or natural law. All they insist on explicitly is that women have lots of children, and that choosing to focus primarily on raising said children is no worse<\/em> than having a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s obvious why liberals and leftists would have problems taking this seriously. If Americans are supposed to be having more kids, and American men are supposed to be more traditionally masculine, then who\u2019s supposed to be doing the work of raising all of these kids? The answer, of course, is wives (as it\u2019s certainly not immigrants). Neopatrarichy may not explicitly call for a reversal of the feminist revolution, but that\u2019s basically what it\u2019s going for.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n