Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, And The Liberalization Of Attitudes About Same-Sex Relationships, 1973–2018, Ashley Wendell Kranjac, Robert L. Wagmiller

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

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 …