Attitudes Toward Homosexuality

Attitudes toward gays and lesbians are undergoing significant changesaround the world. Previous research has determined that Canadians oftenexhibit more tolerant attitudes toward homosexuality than Americans yetfew studies have attempted to uncover why this pattern persists. This bookseeks to determine what factors account for differences in attitudes towardhomosexuality among Canadians and Americans. The author re-examines theestablished assertion that divergent levels of religious commitment ratherthan other socio-demographic cultural and socio-structural factors largelyaccount for attitudinal differences between the two neighbouring nations.This study includes a review of previous social scientific research on this topicfollowed by a comprehensive data analysis of attitudes toward homosexualitybetween Canadians and Americans from 1981 to 2000 using World ValuesSurveys data. Scholars and students interested in cross-national comparisonsof social values will find this book particularly useful as it offers insight intothe challenges to be expected in future research endeavours.