The Individualization of Society and the Liberalization of State Policies on Same-Sex Sexual Relations, 1984-1995

Abstract

Over the last half century, social life throughout much of the world has been reconstituted around individualized persons, conceived to embody ultimate authority over their own lives. As individuals have become more central to society, and as models of individuated personhood have been claimed by women as well as by men, many changes have ensued, including a dramatic transformation of sex. Sex has ceased to be dominantly associated with the family and procreation and has come to be associated with the individual and pleasure. One expression of this shift is the recent rise and public legitimation of same-sex sexual relations. Gay and lesbian social movements have appeared worldwide, and many nation-states have liberalized theirpolicies on homosexual relations. Using regression models on cross-national data, we show that (1) high levels of individualization and gender equality provide a cultural opportunity structure that gives rise to active lesbian and gay social movements and liberalized state policies on same-sex relations and that (2) active lesbian and gay social movements and liberal state policies each facilitate the other. Competing explanations for the changes, such as economic development and democratization, receive little support.