James Dobson

===Social influence===

Dobson's books on [[corporal punishment]] helped to legitimize the practice, providing it with theological grounding for Christian readers. When opposition to physical discipline became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s in American society, conservative Protestants emerged as perhaps the most ardent remaining supporters of corporal punishment. This support was bolstered by "authority-centered" parenting techniques advised in Dobson's books.<ref name="Bartkowski1995" />

Dobson frequently cautions parents to use corporal punishment only in a limited and empathetic way. Theologian [[Donald Eric Capps]] and psychologist Adah Maurer argued in the 1990s that, in practice, parents frequently use indiscriminate violence against children. They argue Dobson's work provides parents with self-serving theological rationalizations for their violent outbursts. Capps and Maurer conclude that the popularity of corporal punishment in this era damaged children in ways that may last into adulthood.<ref name="Bartkowski1995" />

Throughout his career at Focus on the Family, Dobson argued for [[gender role]] instruction. He believed that gender and sexuality were not fixed from birth, but required careful cultivation. He sought to provide boys with outlets for their natural aggression, and to teach girls how to develop romantic partnerships, which they use to channel and refine male destructive impulses into civilized behavior. Thus the [[feminism|feminist]] and [[LGBT rights]] movements, because they seek to disturb gender roles, are a threat not only to family harmony but to national strength.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=99}} To preserve pious gender roles, Dobson distributed Christian-targeted psychological advice. His daily radio program ''Focus on the Family'' was (according to his organization) broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries.<ref name="aboutFF">{{cite news |url=http://www.focusonthefamily.com/press/focusvoices/A000000025.cfm |publisher=[[Focus on the Family]] |title=Press Biographies > Dr. James Dobson |access-date=2007-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329151712/http://www.focusonthefamily.com/press/focusvoices/A000000025.cfm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2007-03-29}}</ref><ref name="PFAW">{{cite news |url=http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=4257 |publisher=[[People For the American Way]] |title=Focus on the Family |year=2006 |access-date=2006-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011205753/http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=4257 |archive-date=October 11, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the 1960s and 70s effort to legalize abortion, journalism often reported the plight of women in need of abortion, such as [[Sherri Finkbine]]. Dobson, together with [[Francis Schaeffer]] and others, shifted the public conversation away from the suffering of women, toward the suffering of the fetus and the selfishness of women who seek abortion.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=196}}

Through his books and broadcasts, Dobson sought to prepare parents to fight in the American [[culture war]]s, which he called the "Civil War of Values".{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=101–102}} He is a founder of [[purity culture]], a nationwide chastity movement through which he significantly shaped American attitudes about sex and gender.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=102–108,167}}