The World According to Peter Hart-Brinson
Same-Sex Marriage
Research
My dissertation research is on the issue of same-sex marriage in the United States. It is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. I have conducted 97 interviews with college students and their parents in Illinois about the issue. In short, I am focusing on the age gap in public opinion about same-sex marriage: study after study finds that younger people (under age 35 or so) are much more supportive of same-sex marriage than older people. No one is particularly surprised by this, but few have attempted to explain why this is so. I use the interviews to shed more light on this difference. In the extended interviews, I find out more about why people think what they do. In other words, I have collected data on the "cultural foundations" of their attitudes toward same-sex marriage.
The paper below was prepared for the 2008 conference of the American Sociological Association, a secondary analysis of public opinion data from 2003. The data is a little out of date, but the survey is nice because it included some basic indicators of what the cultural foundations of attitudes toward same-sex marriage might be. This data is important because it provides some preliminary answers to my study, and it is a nationally representative sample, unlike my own. I am currently redoing the analysis to fix some important methodological errors in this version.
Why do People Support Civil Unions but not Same-Sex Marriage?
The bulk of the dissertation is a qualitative analysis of the explicit discourse that people use to talk about same-sex marriage and the implicit associations of their attitudes about same-sex marriage with other elements of people's belief systems. One important finding is that, contrary to the "culture wars" image that same-sex marriage is so controversial that people get divided into two irreconcilable camps, many people have decidedly mixed and contradictory feelings about the subject. The data show that different elements of people's worldviews frequently conflict: for example, a person's political ideology and a person's emotional comfort or discomfort with homosexuality. If people become polarized around this issue, it is in the process of political mobilization--such as votes to ban same-sex marriage--where people have to pick a side. In the dissertation, I show how people draw from different cognitive resources to formulate opinions about same-sex marriage, and I show how those opinions are related to their attitudes about homosexuality, their definitions of marriage, their personal experiences, and their religious and political ideologies.
Ultimately, this study points toward the importance of "social generational" differences in attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Because my sample is composed of parents and children, I can look for evidence of "social generational" differences in the two biological generations. Between the time that the students came of age (1990s-2000s) and the time their parents came of age (1960s-70s), U.S. society has undergone dramatic changes in gender roles, family forms, and attitudes about homosexuality. The controversy over same-sex marriage captures these changes. What the two cohorts take for granted as "normal," based on the society that they encountered during their formative years, differ in important respects. But just as importantly, the "social generational" differences can be seen both across cohorts and within cohorts. Social generational processes do not affect all people in a cohort in the same ways--the processes of social generational change is stratified by a variety of demographic and contextual variables. For example, for same-sex marriage, social generational change manifests itself differently for religious youth than it does for non-religious youth.
The paper below was prepared for the 2009 conference of the American Sociological Association. It is a theoretical paper on the concept of "social generations" and how it relates to the issue of same-sex marriage. It deals mostly with the intellectual history of the term "generation" and how the social generation concept can improve our understanding of cohort differences and social change.
"The Heart of the Social Metabolism"
Resources
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has conducted a numer of public opinion surveys on the issue of same-sex marriage. On their websites, you can download their datasets, find the original questionnaires, and find press releases and interpretations of their findings.
This 2006 survey found that opposition to same-sex marriage declined after peaking in 2003 and 2004.
This 2003 survey, though older, includes a wider variety of questionnaire items and variables relating to homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The survey's authors conclude that religious values are critical predictors of attitudes towards homosexuality and same-sex marriage, though the reality is much more complex. The age differences in opinion towards homosexuality and same-sex marriage, for example, is noted. This is the dataset that I used in the paper above.
Faith in Public Life also produced a 2008 survey that addressed same-sex marriage. This survey found evidence of generational differences in opinion about same-sex marriage, and it underscores the importance of assurances of religious liberty in the discussion of same-sex marriage.
Stateline factsheet on laws in all 50 U.S. states relating to same-sex relationships.
Extensive bibliography on publications about same-sex marriage, mostly dealing with legal issues.
Institute for Marriage and Public Policy--This is a link to their page on same-sex marriage.
Poll: Generation Gap in Same-Sex Marriage--May 2009 poll from CNN/ORC finding support for same-sex marriage is much higher among people under 35.
Links
Human Rights Campaign--A liberal organization advocating equal rights for gays and lesbians. Includes articles and resources on the liberal view of same-sex marriage.
Family Research Council--A conservative religious organization opposed to same-sex marriage. The website contains a number of resources, articles, and essays outlining their views on homosexuality, marriage, and family.
Protect Marriage--Website advocating "yes" vote on Proposition 8 in California, defining marriage as between a man and woman and overturning a California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages.
No on Prop 8--Website advocating "no" vote on Proposition 8 in California to uphold the same-sex marriages in that state.
Prop 8 The Musical--From Funny or Die. Starring, among others, Jack Black as Jesus.
Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life website on same-sex marriage.
Website devoted to Catholic teachings on same-sex marriage.
Gay Rights at 538.com--This is a link to all the posts on 538.com with the tag "gay rights." Contains many interesting commentaries on same-sex marriage.
PBS News Hour--The PBS news show's webpage on same-sex marriage.
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Page last updated November 13, 2009