Mormon Polygamy

In the United States, polygamy was introduced into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) in the late 1800’s by Joseph Smith, a prophet of the Mormon religion who claimed to have had a revelation revealing that it was God’s will for believers to practice plural marriages (Jacobson and Burton 2011:5). As polygamy began to become more common, opposition came down hard on these groups for, as Jacobson and Burton (2011) refer to as, causing “considerable disruption to their societies.” This led to the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, signed in 1862, which legally banned the practice of polygamy in the U.S. and enforced heterosexual monogamy. Despite the fact that it is still currently illegal, there are over 40,000 people living in polygamist families. Even though many Mormons believe that engaging in polygamy plays a fundamental role in their notions of salvation, religion is not the only reason why people choose plural marriages. There are personal reasons as well, such as wanting to be a part of a large family and satisfaction from an enhanced social life. There are biological reasons, including infertility, procreation and sexual fulfillment. Finally, the cultural factors include the economic importance of large family, which allows for

When one’s behavior, actions, or attributes lack conformity to society’s norms, it is viewed as negative deviance and usually results in negative outcomes. A social group contains two or more individuals with similar interest and a feeling of solidarity. Every society has rules and standards that it expects its members to follow. Since Polygamists share ideologies and practices that go against the societal norms, they are labeled as