Local Society as Global Cultural Conduit? The Global Diffusion of Gay-Rights Policies

• In Event: 505 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Global Diffusion of Law

Abstract

The influence of international institutional structures such as inter-governmental organizations has -- in what can be characterized as a rather top-down fashion -- helped drive the global spread of a variety of national laws and policies, scholars working within the world-society-theory (WST) tradition have found. WST scholars have also theorized that a more bottom-up form of diffusion can occur, whereby the spread of global discourse and ideas to the local or domestic level should also promote the global spread of national policies. However, this claim has been little-tested empirically. This study uses event history analysis to model the effect of a number of local-level factors, including average and elite public attitudes towards homosexuality, the presence of domestic LGBT NGOs, and social globalization, on 75 countries’ time-to-adoption of: 1) laws against workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians; 2) same-sex civil union or marriage laws; and 3) the removal of legal restrictions on same-sex sexual relations. Early results suggest that local-level factors have a substantial effect, even when controlling for country ties to international institutional structures.

Author

• Louisa Roberts, The Ohio State University