Abstract
Abstract: This work is a theoretical reframing of the term “family values”, understanding not as a concise set of behavioral guidelines for evangelical home life, but a sprawling series of techniques and motivations for justifying a certain vision of the American family. By all accounts, the Christian Right should be an incoherent mess. What has allowed a movement composed of such discordant, feuding parts to dominate the American political discourse for nearly five decades? How do leaders who won’t even share a Sunday morning prayer come together to endorse a unitary policy agenda? The argument this work puts forth is that the cultural sinews that tie evangelicals together in coalitions like the Christian Right are not shared senses of meaning or a coherent vision for American life, but the cultural toolkit and ascribed motivations provided by the cultural tools of family values.