Term Paper on "Same-Sex Marriage in Sociological Context"

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Same-Sex Marriage in Sociological Context

Same-sex marriage has recently emerged as one of the more important and definitional issues in the current U.S. presidential race. In many respects, the emerging pattern of public opinion about same-sex marriage mirrors the mid-20th century controversy surrounding interracial marriage and, more generally, racial equality issues that were the main focus of the 1960s civil rights movement in the U.S. To date, structural-functionalist elements have dominated the legal definition of marriage and the status of married people in American society. Meanwhile, the same-sex marriage issue highlights the most important limitations or criticisms of the structural-functionalist approach. Likewise, while the issue also represents elements of conflict theory, it demonstrates the principle flaw in conflict theory as a predominant macro-sociological framework for understanding human societies. In principle, the micro-sociological approach might be best-suited for understanding marriage as a contemporary social institution.

The social institution of marriage has traditionally fulfilled fundamental social expectations in relation to norms and values about gender roles and the role of nuclear families in society (Henslin, 2008; Macionis, 2007). Traditional concepts of marriage and family serve functional purposes in identifying primary relationships and by defining various social behaviors and responses of individuals in society. They have also help maintain the social order by representing a normative consensus of shared values and behaviors as pertains to the role of marriage, particularly in terms of material, non-material, and quasi-material elements

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of society (Henslin, 2008; Macionis, 2007).

More specifically, the institution of marriage serves a fundamental functional purpose of signaling to others that a primary and committed relationship exists between two individuals. In all likelihood, this fundamental purpose helps explain why the institution of marriage developed universally throughout most known human cultures, even among those that could not possibly have influenced one another. By providing a functional mechanism to identify primary bonds between married individuals, the social institution of marriage serves the crucial function of reducing conflicts precipitated by social overtures by strangers toward pair-bonded individuals (Henslin, 2008; Macionis, 2007). Further evidence of this functional purpose would include the ubiquitous common material cultural elements universally associated with marriage in most human societies, such as wedding rings. By overtly identifying marital status, wedding rings allow married individuals to signal to others that they are unavailable and provide a means for others to determine what types of specific behaviors on their part are socially appropriate and acceptable (Henslin, 2008; Macionis, 2007).

In many respects, it is the non-material and quasi-material cultural elements of marriage that have become central to the contemporary controversy over the legality of same-sex marriage. That is because the formal designation of marriage is associated with extremely valuable legal rights, social benefits, and protections that are unavailable to couples who are pair-bonded but without the formal designation of marriage. Most of those benefits of marriage are non-material in the sense that they are not tangible, but they are profoundly important and determinative of normative elements of society that correspond to rights and privileges with very definite tangible or material economic and other consequences.

For example, married pair-bonded couples have specific advantages and statutory rights in relation to the distribution of their collective property upon marital dissolution or in connection with rights of survivorship after the… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Same-Sex Marriage in Sociological Context" Assignment:

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Instructions for Paper

Using sociology subject*****'s material and the sociological imagination,reflect upon the social institution of your choice and relate it to course material in a paper that explores connections between your chosen social institution and individual experience.You may use personal examples from your life,your family,your friends,or formal experiences such as within the educational system,the legal system,the health care system,the ecnomic system,the welfare system,etc.to illustrate your points.The primary objective of the paper is to link,compare,and contrast personal and individual experiences to the broader societal structure and mechanisms,using sociological concepts.

Paper Objectives

In this paper,you will:

1.Demostrate *****"fluency*****"in the language of sociology.Use terms we have used in class to explore the particular institution that you have chosen.For example:What would the three theoretical paradigms say about your institution and individuals?What are material and nonmaterial cultural aspects of your institution?What are the symbols,values,norms,and belief related to your institution? How do you know? If you are a *****"numbers*****" kind of person,you could focus on how to study the topicãƒ¼what are the questions you would ask,the hypotheses,the variables,methods,level of analysis,operationalizing and measuring,etc.What role does socialization and its components take in your institution? What is the social structure of your chsen institution ? What types of stratification exist and how does inequality affect various people in the institution? (These are only examples. You do not have to incorporate all of these term----one or two concepts that are well-developed are better than a bunch of concepts thrown in but poorly-developoed.)

2.Apply course material to personal experience and vice versa. Again, it can be your own peronal experience, or it could be the personal experience of others. Make sure you make the distinction between *****"personal troubles*****"(or *****" or social forces experience)and *****"public issues of social structurer or social forces operating in the broader society.

What you ust include in or with your essays:

1.Cover page with details as given below

2.You must make connections between the ideas from the text and/or lecture and the topic in your essay. Use concepts,ideas, terms, theories from your text and/or lecture.Use the vocabulary of sociology!

3.Give and explain your own impression on the topic. Elaborate on your answer.

4. Complete bibliographic information for the articles you read or are your sources of information. You must give credit to your sources of information by citing them properly. Sociology fowwows A.P.A style, but you may use MLA as long as you use it correctly. There is an example of Sociology*****'s citation style on reserve in the library. Copying information from your sources without citation will result in lower grades. Do not use wikipedia or blogs as sourcees. Although some information obtained there might be accurate, they are not properly accredited sources for academic purposes. If you cite any information obtained solely form class lecture, you must include a citation. You may cite it as *****"Sociology 120 lecture notes, DATE*****"

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1. Same-Sex Marriage in Sociological Context. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/same-sex-marriage-sociological-context/3093864. Published 2012. Accessed October 5, 2024.

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