IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/minsoc/v20y2021i1d10.1007_s11299-020-00269-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A theory of sexual revolution: explaining the collapse of the norm of premarital abstinence

Author

Listed:
  • Chien Liu

    (Wagner College)

Abstract

The sexual revolution that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of the most profound social changes during the second half of the twentieth century in America. Before the revolution, there existed a norm proscribing premarital sex (PS norm); premarital sex was not accepted. After the sexual revolution, the PS norm no longer existed; premarital sex became accepted. In the literature on how premarital sex became accepted, little attention is given to the institutional change that transpired—the collapse of a sexual norm. This study specifies one micro-mechanism of this social change. Specifically, adopting methodological individualism and the prisoner's dilemma game, I develop a theory that explains how a technological innovation for contraception triggered a change in individuals' perception of premarital sex, which led to their behavioral change. As a result, premarital sex became accepted, and the norm proscribing premarital sex collapsed. I use General Social Survey data to test the hypothesized micro-mechanism of the institutional change. The empirical analysis supports the hypothesis derived from the theory. Based on the above analyses, I discuss two alternative explanations and the issue of teenage pregnancy.

Suggested Citation

  • Chien Liu, 2021. "A theory of sexual revolution: explaining the collapse of the norm of premarital abstinence," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 20(1), pages 41-58, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:minsoc:v:20:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11299-020-00269-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11299-020-00269-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11299-020-00269-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11299-020-00269-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Axelrod, Robert, 1986. "An Evolutionary Approach to Norms," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 1095-1111, December.
    2. Melissa S. Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2012. "Why Is the Teen Birth Rate in the United States So High and Why Does It Matter?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(2), pages 141-163, Spring.
    3. Chien Liu, 2020. "A theory of norm collapse," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(2), pages 119-143, May.
    4. Christine Horne, 2007. "Explaining Norm Enforcement," Rationality and Society, , vol. 19(2), pages 139-170, May.
    5. Karl-Dieter Opp, 2001. "How do norms emerge? An outline of a theory," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 2(1), pages 101-128, March.
    6. Larry Bumpass & James Sweet, 1989. "National Estimates of Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(4), pages 615-625, November.
    7. Santelli, J.S. & Lindberg, L.D. & Finer, L.B. & Singh, S., 2007. "Explaining recent declines in adolescent pregnancy in the United States: The contribution of abstinence and improved contraceptive use," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(1), pages 150-156.
    8. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen & Michael L. Katz, 1996. "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 277-317.
    9. Karl-Dieter Opp, 2002. "When Do Norms Emerge by Human Design and When by the Unintended Consequences of Human Action?," Rationality and Society, , vol. 14(2), pages 131-158, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chien Liu, 2020. "A theory of norm collapse," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(2), pages 119-143, May.
    2. José M Galán & Maciej M Łatek & Seyed M Mussavi Rizi, 2011. "Axelrod's Metanorm Games on Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(5), pages 1-11, May.
    3. H Peyton Young, 2014. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Economics Series Working Papers 726, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Истратов В.А., 2018. "Компьютерный Алгоритм Формирования Личных И Социальных Норм," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 54(4), pages 98-110, октябрь.
    5. Girma, Sourafel & Paton, David, 2015. "Is education the best contraception: The case of teenage pregnancy in England?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Fletcher, Jason M. & Polos, Jessica, 2017. "Nonmarital and Teen Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 10833, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Kearney, Melissa S. & Levine, Phillip B., 2015. "Investigating recent trends in the U.S. teen birth rate," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 15-29.
    8. Hechter, Michael, 2008. "The rise and fall of normative control," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 663-676, August.
    9. Xile Yin & Siyu Chen & Dahui Li & Feng Zhang, 2021. "Social norms for fairness and board voting behavior: An experimental investigation," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 110-133, March.
    10. Dirk Helbing & Anders Johansson, 2010. "Cooperation, Norms, and Revolutions: A Unified Game-Theoretical Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Истратов В.А., 2016. "Моделирование Формирования Социальных Норм В Общественных Науках," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 52(4), pages 47-73, октябрь.
    12. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2014. "Cohabitation and the Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the United States, 1950–2010," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 241-272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Colin Cannonier, 2012. "State abstinence education programs and teen birth rates in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 53-75, March.
    14. Fenaba Addo, 2012. "Ethnoracial Differences in Early Union Experiences Among Young Adult Women," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 427-444, December.
    15. Fujio Toriumi & Hitoshi Yamamoto & Isamu Okada, 2020. "A belief in rewards accelerates cooperation on consumer-generated media," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 19-31, April.
    16. Christine Horne, 2007. "Explaining Norm Enforcement," Rationality and Society, , vol. 19(2), pages 139-170, May.
    17. Georgios Mavropoulos & Theodore Panagiotidis, 2023. "The role of relative income in the share of children born out-of-wedlock in the USA," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1105-1120, March.
    18. Patrick Groeber & Frank Schweitzer & Kerstin Press, 2009. "How Groups Can Foster Consensus: The Case of Local Cultures," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 12(2), pages 1-4.
    19. Paula England & Lawrence Wu & Emily Shafer, 2013. "Cohort Trends in Premarital First Births: What Role for the Retreat From Marriage?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(6), pages 2075-2104, December.
    20. Christian Scheve & Daniel Moldt & Julia Fix & Rolf Luede, 2006. "My agents love to conform: Norms and emotion in the micro-macro link," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 81-100, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:minsoc:v:20:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11299-020-00269-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.