By ‘focusing on the family,’ James Dobson helped propel US evangelicals back into politics – making the Religious Right into the cultural force it is today

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Richard Flory, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

(THE CONVERSATION) For decades, one name was ubiquitous in American evangelical homes: Focus on the Family. A media empire with millions of listeners and readers, its messages about parenting, marriage and politics seemed to reach every conservative Christian church and school.

And one man’s name was nearly synonymous with Focus on the Family: James Dobson.

Dobson, a primary figure of the Religious Right who died on Aug. 21, 2025, was born in 1936, when conservative Protestant Christianity was a far cry from what it is today. As a sociologist of religion who has studied American evangelicalism for 30 years, I believe Dobson’s influence and moral authority were instrumental in transforming the Religious Right into the powerful cultural and political force it has been for half a century.

A household name

Dobson earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California, where he taught for several years. In 1970, he published “Dare to Discipline,” a book encouraging parents to use corporal punishment to instill unquestioned respect for authority in their children.

“Dare to...