Same sex marrige - Term Paper Example

The Functionalist theory was initiated by Emile Durkheim, one of the major personalities in sociology. A society is composed of different and very important parts that have functional responsibilities (Fulcher, and Scott 2007). Functionalists view society’s members as responsible for cooperation avenues. They need to be united and work towards common goals. There should be a cohesive agreement on what works best for the rest of the people. In connection to same sex marriage, the functionalist perspective disagrees with unions among people of the same sex since it does not generally encourage improvement in sensible concepts.

However the framework still reveres the right of individuals to decide. This centers on democracy and respects the opinion of the majority. Hence, gay marriage would be regarded as a taboo in the current standards. Since marriage is an institution that seeks to pursue reproduction and biological maintenance, it should only be between a man and a woman. With this arrangement, productivity is verified. Hence, the best course is taken for the bigger part of the population. In addition, “functionalists emphasized that gender differences and the sexual division of labour contribute to social stability and integration” (Giddens 619).

This implies that same sex marriage is not actually helpful in the society since men should perform masculine roles and women should achieve feminine tasks. As for Conflict Theorists, they see civilization as powered by disunity. They assert that the lifeblood of a society is the changes brought about by disagreements. The makeup of every community is inherently unequal. Fairness could not be truly achieved because of the natural differences in economic status, personality, and other aspects.

Improvement would not then be possible if the present situation would not be challenged. One way for progress to ensue is to cause revolutions, may it be social, intellectual, physical, or moral. This makes same-sex marriage being regarded as a helpful element in generating change in societies. “Issues of inequality concern differences in access to scarce resources. When there are insufficient resources to satisfy everybody, then humans often compete to obtain access to those resources” (Haralambos, and Holborn 3).

This perspective explains gay marriage as a result of the inadequate opportunity to marry. True enough, because of this divergence, changes have been made and laws have been passes to accommodate the requests of gays. As of now, there have been states and leaders advocating for the acceptance of this kind of marriage. Since Symbolic Interactionists value representations of social processes, they are concerned with things like certificates. As a framework, it emphasizes the models of communication, elucidation, and adaptation among members of the community.

It is a theory that seeks to makes sense of how humans relate with each other through symbols (Denzin 61). Hence, this theory looks at the marriage certificate as a binding proof of a nuptial. For same-sex marriage to be fully recognized, they will then have to be allowed to also have a certificate of their own. They may also have the liberty to engage in rituals and engage in various symbols such as rings, bible, and the like. This would then further to the need of being accepted in church weddings where other symbols related to spiritual blessing of the union abound.

Concerning same-sex marriage as being acknowledged or not in the symbolic interaction