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The use of power to maintain and change the traditional ritual hegemonic view of marriage may ultimately lead to a civil transformation within society. The idea that marriage is traditionally reserved for a union between one man and one woman is being challenged through acts of transformative deviance to alter existing norms. Though some actions in support of same-sex marriage are transgressive forms of deviance, which do not change norms, the establishment has used many …

…an effort to preserve the 'natural' definition of marriage and maintain a heterosexist world view. The actions taken by both proponents and opponents of same-sex marriage demonstrate the use of power to either maintain or transform hegemonic rituals. The efforts by both sides to define one piece of human existence reveal that our social realities are constructed and maintained by our own belief in those realities in an effort to strive towards the common good.