Page 1 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 1 of 274 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
Subset |
FIGHTING FOR MARRIAGE: GENDER, SEXUALITY AND RELIGION
IN THE CONTEMPORARY MARRIAGE MOVEMENT
by
Melanie Heath
A Dissertation Presented to the
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(SOCIOLOGY)
December 2006
Copyright 2006 Melanie Heath
Object Description
| Title | Fighting for marriage: gender, sexuality, and religion in the contemporary marriage movement |
| Author | Heath, Melanie Ann |
| Author email | melanieheath@rice.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Sociology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2006-07-14 |
| Date submitted | 2006 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2006-11-22 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Stacey, Judith Messner, Michael A. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Hays, Sharon Miller, Donald |
| Abstract | "Fighting for Marriage" ethnographically explores the tensions between values and inequality over changing gender and sexual relations in the extensive project to restore heterosexual marriage. In 2004, I conducted ten months of research in Oklahoma as a case study of the broader politics of marriage in the United States. Oklahoma dedicated $10 million from its welfare block grant in 1999 to promote heterosexual marriage as a way to reduce poverty. It also successfully passed in 2004 a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Based on participant observation and seventy in-depth interviews, I consider the productivity of culture in heterosexual marriage politics and its material consequences.; The cultural project to restore heterosexual marriage presents two frames. In Oklahoma, the "moral" frame, which claims moral authority to define gender and sexuality as fundamental to heterosexual marriage, took precedence over the "anti-poverty" frame, which concentrates more on the needs of poor single mothers. Rather than just target low-income families, marriage promotion redistributed welfare funds earmarked for needy families to provide free marriage education classes to "all Oklahomans" through community and religious organizations, and public state organizations. Consequently, the moral frame that seeks to transform the culture of marriage produced economic consequences that focused the benefits of marriage classes more on a white privileged population.; Both frames speak to an underlying anxiety over changes in gender relations and what this means to the unspoken power of heterosexuality. Yet, the less dominant anti-poverty frame brought some unintended consequences. One welfare office authorized marriage classes to poor single mothers. Tensions between values and economics led many workshop leaders to modify the curriculum to enhance relationship skills with significant others more broadly defined. Two lesbian couples also participated in two consecutive marriage workshops, silently challenging the heteronormative assumptions of the curriculum. Thus, this study suggests that, while efforts to restore heterosexual marriage seek to curtail changes in gender and sexual relations, they expand as well opportunities for thinking outside the one-man, one-woman box. |
| Keyword | marriage; gender and sexuality; social inequality; culture |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m190 |
| Rights | Heath, Melanie Ann |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Heath-20061122 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume29/etd-Heath-20061122.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | FIGHTING FOR MARRIAGE: GENDER, SEXUALITY AND RELIGION IN THE CONTEMPORARY MARRIAGE MOVEMENT by Melanie Heath A Dissertation Presented to the DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOCIOLOGY) December 2006 Copyright 2006 Melanie Heath |
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1
