Coming Out of the Closet and Its Influence, 1985–2013

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-114
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Social Science Data ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
First Time ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 7 provides a variety of social science data analysis to show that contact between gays and lesbians and their straight family and friends was responsible for the dramatic liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights in the U.S. When Americans were asked why they became more supportive of marriage equality, they overwhelmingly explained that having a gay friend or family member helped them see the issue more positively. Having a gay friend was influential even to people who were not predisposed to support gay rights. Data show that gays and lesbians in the U.S. were coming out of the closet for the first time in the 1990s, and the 1990s is also when American attitudes toward gay rights started to liberalize.

The Rainbow after the Storm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Gay Couples ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
The U.S

The Rainbow after the Storm tells the story of the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights that made same-sex marriage the law of the U.S. sooner than almost anyone thought was possible. The book explains how and why public opinion toward gay rights liberalized so much, while most other public attitudes have remained relatively stable. The book explores the roles of a variety of actors in this drama. Social science research helped to shift elite opinion in ways that reduced the persecution of gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians by the hundreds of thousands responded to a less repressive environment by coming out of the closet. Straight people started to know the gay and lesbian people in their lives, and their view of gay rights shifted accordingly. Same-sex couples embarked on years-long legal struggles to try to force states to recognize their marriages. In courtrooms across the U.S. social scientists behind a new consensus about the normalcy of gay couples and the health of their children won victories over fringe scholars promoting discredited antigay views. In a few short years marriage equality, which had once seemed totally unrealistic, became realistic. And then almost as soon as it was realistic, marriage equality became a reality.

Social Science Data and the Courts

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
PATRICIA E. STIVERS
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Social Science Data

scholarly journals Uncomfortable Decisions

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bloom ◽  
Laurie Paul
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Career Change ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Social Science Data ◽  
Personal Decision ◽  
Algorithmic Process

Some decision-making processes are uncomfortable. Many of us do not like to make significant decisions, such as whether to have a child, solely based on social science research. We do not like to choose randomly, even in cases where flipping a coin is plainly the wisest choice. We are often reluctant to defer to another person, even if we believe that the other person is wiser, and have similar reservations about appealing to powerful algorithms. And, while we are comfortable with considering and weighing different options, there is something strange about deciding solely on a purely algorithmic process, even one that takes place in our own heads.What is the source of our discomfort? We do not present a decisive theory here—and, indeed, the authors have clashing views over some of these issues—but we lay out the arguments for two (consistent) explanations. The first is that such impersonal decision-making processes are felt to be a threat to our autonomy. In all of the examples above, it is not you who is making the decision, it is someone or something else. This is to be contrasted with personal decision-making, where, to put it colloquially, you “own” your decision, though of course you may be informed by social science data, recommendations of others, and so on. A second possibility is that such impersonal decision-making processes are not seen as authentic, where authentic decision making is one in which you intentionally and knowledgably choose an option in a way that is “true to yourself.” Such decision making can be particularly important in contexts where one is making a life-changing decision of great import, such as the choice to emigrate, start a family, or embark on a major career change.

Imperatives for Theories in Social Science: The North-South Divide Notwithstanding

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-217
Author(s):  
Aaron Ola Ogundiwin, ◽  
Joel N. Nwachukwu
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The North ◽  
Common Mistake ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Social Science Data

Abstract The paper underscores the place of theories in organizing social science data and experience. It holds that theories are indispensable to social research (The North-South divide notwithstanding), in view of the fact that the framework of knowledge and experience within which theories are established make a meaningful explanation of the world phenomenon reasonably possible. It delineates political philosophy and history of ideas from theory and thus, takes care of common mistake social scientists make differentiating between them. Furthermore, the paper on one hand, takes on the scientific requisites of theory such as assumption, concepts (and their functions), hypothesis (and its characteristics typology), law, models, paradigm and provides lucid conceptual analysis of each with a view to showing their relatedness to theory but not as synonyms to it. On the other hand, we singled out dependency theory in its emanation from knowledge and experience of underdevelopment of Third World countries, as the first and perhaps most relevant theoretic explanation of Africa’s underdevelopment. The paper posits that a good theory that will serve as a rudder for formulation of research questions, problem statement, as well as sustain the data analysis, and findings must parade some, if not all of the following qualities: precision and testability, empirical validity, parsimony, stimulation, and practicability.

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