Social Change Discussion

I’m working on a sociology writing question and need the explanation and answer to help me learn.

Social Change

Society does change, but the length of time it takes for change to be realized depends on a number of characteristics including institutional support, resources, and attitudes of the public.  While some change can take decades, other changes seemed to happen quite quickly.  For example, the attitudes supporting changes to marriage laws to allow for marriage among gay and lesbian couples happened in a relatively short amount of time.  A similar trend seems to be taking place in the space of legalizing marijuana.