Sex Behavior and the American Class Structure: A Mosaic

Abstract

Close parallels in ancient Rome and present-day America suggest that the sexual revolutions in both societies were significantly influenced by the existential conditions that they confronted at the height of their powers. At the same time, each was constrained in its sociocultural responses by the nature of its social-class structure. In America we must examine the ethos of each of six broad strata to comprehend in detail the nature of the American sexual revolution. When we do, we see that many of the changes in our sexual mores and behav ior can be traced to recent changes in the social-class structure. The spread of higher education among the middle class has meant that a substantial portion of American adolescents are regularly exposed to a social setting in which their sexual behavior is governed essentially by the adolescents themselves. Such a situation could not help but be more permissive than that which prevailed before the modern period. Moreover, since a substantial portion of the population is now embraced by the middle classes, a growing portion of the population is exposed to this permissive sexual environment. The sexual revolution in America, therefore, is largely a blend of existential and structural pressures impinging upon only a segment of the total population.