Item Detail
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13425
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0
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0
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English
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From Polygamy to Monogamy : Mormonism on Gender, Marriage and the Family
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San Jose, CA
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San Jose State University
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160
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Master's thesis
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This thesis challenges the oft-repeated American truism that the "traditional" (nuclear) family is society's moral foundation and that its preservation will ensure a moral society. Mormonism, Catholicism, and many Protestant denominations equate this "profamily" viewpoint with their own versions of Christian doctrine. Together, these religious communities promulgate a powerful "profamily" discourse that has spilled over into politics and helps to preserve certain inequities of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
Recently, however, Protestant scholars have acknowledged that "profamily" ideology has no basis in Protestant doctrine. This thesis offers a systematic rhetorical analysis of the authoritative family discourse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) and demonstrates that it too lacks a doctrinal basis for promoting the "traditional" family. The implications for those arguing against racism, classism, gender inequities, and heterosexism are considerable.