Flores and Barclay study on the reasons behind the differences in the social tolerance on same-sex marriages following the judicial action and policy change demonstrate the different perceptions of determining the effects of legal and policy changes on critical social attitudes. The study noted that following the drastic but expected support by former American President, Obama, legalizing same-sex marriages (SSM), in 2012, the society attitude drastically improved even in the states that were against the legalization of the SSM. The Hollingsworth v. Perry in 2013 was one of the judicial rulings that influenced the radical stance in some of the states that were using moral standing in the bid to oppose the SSM (Flores, & Barclay, 2015). The article intention was to determine the context of policy change influences the change in public opinion and attitude towards SSM. It is evident that since 2001, the acceptability of SSM has grown from 35% to the 62% in 2017. The rapid increase in attitude is based on many issues such as social changes, but Flores and Barclay are adamant that policy change and the judicial ruling is one of the most vital reasons for the rapid change in public attitude and SSM tolerance.
Although this essay is based on the Flores and Barclay’s article, it is necessary to determine the changes in attitude and tolerance on SSM couples. According to Pew Research, positions on SSM is influenced by generation or age, religion, political party and ideology, race and gender. The survey depicted that the younger generations expressed higher levels of support compared to the older generations do with the Silent Generation representing a 41% support for SSM which is the least among all the generations. Baby boomers expressed a 56% support demonstrating the change in generations and ages towards support and tolerance of SSM. Although 85% of religions support the SSM, the average is higher than the support of 68% by the Catholics and White mainline Protestants. Black Protestants and white evangelical Protestants who have the lowest support of 35% (Pew Research Center. 2017). The Democrats and Independent supporters have the highest SSM support with 73% and 70% respectively whereas the Republicans are still lowest with a 40% support. The political parties form the liberals, moderates and conservative ideologies thus depicting the 85%, 70% and 41% respectively. The whites still support SSM more compared to the blacks that are 64% and 51%. Lastly, 64% of women support SSM compared to the 60% men who support SSM (Pew Research Center. 2017). The data analysis is essential to help in determining the effectiveness of the reasons provided by Flores and Barclay.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In the article, “ Backlash, Consensus, Legitimacy, or Polarization: Effects of Same-Sex Marriage Policy on Mass Attitudes ” (Flores, & Barclay, 2015). Illustrate that backlash, consensus, legitimacy or polarization are the causes of mass attitudes changes. The models are used to explain that attitude changes in response to the legitimization of SSM. Backlash model defined as the “large, negative and enduring shift in opinion against a policy of group occurs in response to some event that threatens the status quo” (Flores, & Barclay, 2015). The model demonstrated that U.S, Supreme Court decision would result in a backlash with most people viewing the ruling as favoring and offering undue preference for those defying the status quo. However, the use of democratic processes such as voting as used in most states to legalize the SSM led to the change in attitude making it a fight for minorities to gain their rights thus changing the overall attitude towards SSM. The legitimacy approach focuses on the law being the defining factor of whether a process or an action is right or evil. The assumption for the application of legitimacy model is based on the understanding that Americans respect the rule of law. Therefore, the policy changes that legalized SSM following Obama’s signing the bill and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling would result in a positive reaction on SSM (Flores, & Barclay, 2015). People are more likely to support an issue if it is legal than if it is illegal therefore depicting the increment favoring of SSM among the law abiding citizens.
The polarizing model, on the other hand, is based on the assumption that ideological and partisan views and interpretation of the contentious issues. The public tends to discuss and seek more information on polarizing issues to understand it before either supporting or rejecting it. The article demonstrates the increment in the google search on SSM from 2012 which is a depiction of the increased information seeking. Knowledge leads to making a better decision rather than biased assumptions hence the positive attitude on SSM. The opponents of SSM tends to have minimal reasons on their opposition to religion being the center of their critical points. The lack of depth of the opposing ideas results in most people choosing to support the rights of the LGB individuals. Lastly, Consensus model is based on the notion that policies are made to depict the majority opinion of the people. Therefore, the laws do not determine the social views.
The study portrayed that Consensus and Legitimacy models provide the best reasoning of attitude change on SSM following the policy changes. Backlash and polarization had the least possible explanation of the changes in attitude (Flores, & Barclay, 2015). This conclusion is evident from the earlier analysis. The younger generations favor SSM more than; the older generation does; religious groups increased their support for the SSM which is evident that legitimacy of the SSM ensured that even religious groups support the LGB rights since they respect the law. It is important to note that over 62% of American support the SSM with blacks and whites having a 51% and 64% respectively. The essence that blacks are more inclined to oppose SSM than the whites can be demonstrated under legitimacy model that shows that Blacks are twice as likely as the Whites to violate the laws. The high crime rates among the blacks are evidence that they are more inclined to commit crimes which can be understood as one of the reasons they oppose SSM. Similar understanding can be used to explain the reasons women support SSM compared to men. Men are inclined to disobey or violate the law compared to women hence the 60% and 64% support for SSM (Pew Research Center. 2017). In conclusion, it is evident that the attitude changes towards SSM is dependent on diverse issues but the rapid support of SSM legitimization demonstrate that the law provides a positive attitude change amongst most of the Americans. Although the consensus model was proposed to explain that rules are made to illustrate the views of the majority, it is impossible to understand the changing public opinion from the average of about 50% in 2012 to the 62% in 2017. Therefore, legitimacy model provides the best explanation for the increased change in attitude towards SSM.
References
Flores, A., & Barclay, S. (2015). Backlash, Consensus, Legitimacy, or Polarization: Effects of Same-Sex Marriage Policy on Mass Attitudes . Accessed from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1065912915621175
Pew Research Center. (2017). Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project . Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/
