scholarly journals Should Mary and Jane Be Legal? Americans' Attitudes toward Marijuana and Same-Sex Marriage Legalization, 1988-2014

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Landon Schnabel
Keyword(s):  
General Social Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Marijuana Legalization ◽  
The Government ◽  
Precipitous Decline

Marijuana and same-sex marriage are two of the fastest changing and most widely debated opinion and policy issues in the United States. Previous research has examined public opinion on marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage legalization individually, but has neglected to examine these two issues together. We use General Social Survey data from 1988 to 2014 to compare four groups: (1) those who support neither, (2) those who support marijuana but not same-sex marriage legalization, (3) those who support marriage but not marijuana legalization, and (4) those who support both. This study provides four key findings: (1) marijuana and same-sex marriage attitudes have changed simultaneously; (2) most people hold these attitudes in tandem, and there has been a precipitous decline in the percentage of people who support legalizing neither and a remarkable increase in the percentage who support legalizing both; (3) attitudes toward both issues are liberalizing across all social and ideological groups, suggesting a society-wide redefinition of both behaviors as publicly accepted issues of individual autonomy; (4) the support bases for marijuana and marriage legalization vary systematically by sociodemographic characteristics. We conclude that notions of individual autonomy may be increasingly important to the American public and their beliefs about what the government should regulate.

scholarly journals Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199485
Author(s):  
Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽  
Robert L. Wagmiller
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Lesbian And Gay Rights ◽  
Using Data

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period.

scholarly journals Moving a Mountain: The Extraordinary Trajectory of Same-Sex Marriage Approval in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311772765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Election Studies

Most public opinion attitudes in the United States are reasonably stable over time. Using data from the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies, I quantify typical change rates across all attitudes. I quantify the extent to which change in same-sex marriage approval (and liberalization in attitudes toward gay rights in general) are among a small set of rapid changing outliers in surveyed public opinions. No measured public opinion attitude in the United States has changed more and more quickly than same-sex marriage. I use survey data from Newsweek to illustrate the rapid increase in the 1980s and 1990s in Americans who had friends or family who they knew to be gay or lesbian and demonstrate how contact with out-of-the-closet gays and lesbians was influential. I discuss several potential historical and social movement theory explanations for the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights in the United States, including the surprising influence of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

The Importance of Public Meaning for Political Persuasion

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deva Woodly
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
The Political ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Criteria ◽  
Political Persuasion

There have been many retrospective analyses written about the marriage-equality movement since the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling that made marriages between people of the same sex legal in all 50 states. Most attribute that triumph to a stunningly swift turnaround in public comfort with and approval of same-sex relationships. However, public opinion data indicates that this narrative is inaccurate. In 2015, 51% of General Social Survey respondents declared that they found sexual relationships between people of the same sex to be “wrong” at least “some of the time.” Nevertheless, at the same time, 56% of respondents affirmed that people of the same sex ought to have the legal right to marry. This dissonance suggests that the most common narrative about the success of the movement misses something crucial about how political persuasion happened in this case, as well as the way that political persuasion happens in general. In this article, I show that the massive shift in support for same-sex marriage was likely not the result of large majorities changing their underlying attitudes regarding gay sexual relationships, but was instead the result of activists inserting new criteria for evaluating same-sex marriage into popular political discourse by consistently using resonant arguments. These arguments reframed the political stakes, changed the public meaning of the marriage debate, and altered the decisional context in which people determine their policy preferences.

scholarly journals Homosexuality, Religion, and the Family: The Effects of Religion on Americans’ Appraisals of the Parenting Abilities of Same-Sex Couples

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew L Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
The Family ◽  
Nationally Representative

While a growing body of research focuses on Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex couples as parents, very few include measures of religion and those that do fail to capture its multidimensional nature. Furthermore, many past studies rely on convenience samples of college students, or samples gathered outside the United States. Multivariate analyses of the 2012 General Social Survey – a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States – reveal that a slim majority of Americans still do not believe same-sex couples can parent as well as male-female couples and the religious beliefs, behaviors, and affiliations of Americans are significantly and at times differentially associated with appraisals of same-sex couples’ parenting abilities. It appears that while religion is generally associated with more negative appraisals of the parenting abilities of same-sex couples, it is not uniformly so. Americans’ immediate religious and cultural context can shape their appraisals of homosexuality in diverse ways.

Unpacking the Roles of Religion and Partisanship on Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from South Korea

2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962091839
Author(s):  
Timothy S Rich ◽  
Andi Dahmer ◽  
Isabel Eliassen
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Ideological Influence

We ask to what extent opposition to same-sex marriage in South Korea is driven by Protestant identification and how this differs from Catholic and non-Christian views. Furthermore, is there a separate demographic, partisan or ideological influence beyond that captured by religious identity? Analysis of the 2016 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) data finds not only clear perceptual distinctions between Protestants versus Buddhists and Catholics, but that partisan distinctions endure, even after controlling for the more popular non-LGBT-specific anti-discrimination legislation. In addition, younger and female respondents were more supportive of legalization, while education did not have the same effect as in the broader LGBT literature.

scholarly journals Gay Acquaintanceship and Attitudes toward Homosexuality: A Conservative Test

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311879895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel DellaPosta
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Contact Hypothesis ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Attitudes Toward Homosexuality ◽  
Same Sex Marriage

Does acquaintanceship with gays and lesbians produce more accepting attitudes toward homosexuality and gay rights? Although most scholars and laypeople would likely answer in the affirmative, previous work has struggled to answer this question because of the difficulty in disentangling social influence from social selection. Using panel data from the 2006 to 2010 editions of the General Social Survey, this study provides a conservative test of the contact hypothesis for gay acceptance. People who had at least one gay or lesbian acquaintance at baseline exhibited larger attitude changes at two- and four-year follow-ups with regard to support for same-sex marriage and moral acceptance of homosexuality. Furthermore, this contact effect extended even, and perhaps especially, to people who otherwise displayed more negative prior attitudes and lower propensities for gay and lesbian acquaintanceship.

The Arts as a Polarized Issue and the Role of Political Trust in Promoting the Arts: Evidence From the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Lim Jae Young ◽  
Woo Harin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Moderating Role

The arts in the United States, for a long time received strong support from both sides of the political aisle. However, in recent years, the arts have been transformed into a partisan issue that pits conservatives against liberals. The article points to the importance of political trust as a means of helping conservatives overcome their ideological inclinations and support the arts. Scholars argue that political trust influences more strongly individuals who perceive a given policy to be one that imposes ideological risks for them compared with those without such risks. Focusing on the moderating role of political trust, the article examines whether political trust can help alleviate the conservatives’ hostility to the arts. Relying on the 2016 General Social Survey, the article finds that conservatives have no direct relationship with arts spending, but they will be more likely to support arts spending when this is contingent upon political trust.

Negotiating American Indian Inclusion: Sovereignty, Same-Sex Marriage, and Sexual Minorities in Indian Country

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Valerie Lambert
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Indian ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Domestic Relations ◽  
Indian Country ◽  
Marriage Laws ◽  
And Gender

American Indians are often overlooked in the story of the struggle for marriage equality in the United States. Using anthropological approaches, this article synthesizes and extends scholarly knowledge about Native participation in this struggle. With sovereign rights to control their own domestic relations, tribes have been actively revising their marriage laws, laws that reflect the range of reservation climates for sexual and gender-identity minorities. Debates in Indian Country over the rights of these minorities and over queering marriage bring to the fore issues that help define the distinctiveness of Native participation in the movement. These include issues of “tradition,” “culture,” and Christianity.

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