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Marriage, Also Called Matrimony or Wedlock, Is A Culturally

Marriage is a culturally recognized union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them and any children. The definition of marriage varies between cultures and religions and has changed over time. Traditionally, marriage is an institution that sanctions interpersonal relationships, usually sexual. People marry for various legal, social, emotional, financial, spiritual and religious reasons, and cultural traditions influence who they marry.

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Fasra Chiong
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59 views4 pages

Marriage, Also Called Matrimony or Wedlock, Is A Culturally

Marriage is a culturally recognized union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them and any children. The definition of marriage varies between cultures and religions and has changed over time. Traditionally, marriage is an institution that sanctions interpersonal relationships, usually sexual. People marry for various legal, social, emotional, financial, spiritual and religious reasons, and cultural traditions influence who they marry.

Uploaded by

Fasra Chiong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally

recognised union between people, called spouses, that


establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as
between them and their children, and between them and
their in-laws.[1] The definition of marriage varies around the
world, not only between cultures and between religions, but
also throughout the history of any given culture and religion.
Over time, it has expanded and also constricted in terms of
who and what is encompassed. Typically, it is
an institution in which interpersonal relationships,
usually sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some
cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be
compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity. When
defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal.
A marriage ceremony is called a wedding.
Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal,
social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, and religious
purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced
by gender, socially determined rules of incest, prescriptive
marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire. In
some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child
marriage, polygamy, and sometimes forced marriage, may
be practiced as a cultural tradition. Conversely, such
practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the
world out of concerns regarding the infringement of
women's rights or children's rights (both female and male) or
as a result of international law.[2] Around the world, primarily
in developed democracies, there has been a general trend
towards ensuring equal rights for women within marriage
and legally recognizing the marriages
of interfaith, interracial, and same-sex couples. These
trends coincide with the broader human rights movement.
Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a
religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or
peers. It is often viewed as a contract. When a marriage is
performed and carried out by a government institution in
accordance with the marriage laws of the jurisdiction,
without religious content, it is a civil marriage. Civil marriage
recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to
matrimony in the eyes of the state. When a marriage is
performed with religious content under the auspices of a
religious institution, it is a religious marriage. Religious
marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations
intrinsic to matrimony in the eyes of that religion. Religious
marriage is known variously as sacramental
marriage in Catholicism, nikah in Islam, nissuin in Judaism,
and various other names in other faith traditions, each with
their own constraints as to what constitutes, and who can
enter into, a valid religious marriage.
Some countries do not recognize locally performed religious
marriage on its own, and require a separate civil marriage
for official purposes. Conversely, civil marriage does not
exist in some countries governed by a religious legal
system, such as Saudi Arabia, where marriages contracted
abroad might not be recognized if they were contracted
contrary to Saudi interpretations of Islamic religious law. In
countries governed by a mixed secular-religious legal
system, such as Lebanon and Israel, locally performed civil
marriage does not exist within the country, which prevents
interfaith and various other marriages that contradict
religious laws from being entered into in the country;
however, civil marriages performed abroad may be
recognized by the state even if they conflict with religious
laws. For example, in the case of recognition of marriage in
Israel, this includes recognition of not only interfaith civil
marriages performed abroad, but also overseas same-sex
civil marriages.
The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal
obligations between the individuals involved, and any
offspring they may produce or adopt. In terms of legal
recognition, most sovereign states and other jurisdictions
limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and a diminishing
number of these permit polygyny, child marriages,
and forced marriages. In modern times, a growing number
of countries, primarily developed democracies, have lifted
bans on, and have established legal recognition for, the
marriages of interfaith, interracial, and same-sex couples. In
some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in
spite of national laws against the practice.
Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in
Western countries have led to changes in the demographics
of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer
people marrying, and more couples choosing
to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the number of
marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.
[3]

Historically, in most cultures, married women had very few


rights of their own, being considered, along with the family's
children, the property of the husband; as such, they could
not own or inherit property, or represent themselves legally
(see, for example, coverture). In Europe, the United States,
and other places in the developed world, beginning in the
late 19th century, marriage has undergone gradual legal
changes, aimed at improving the rights of the wife. These
changes included giving wives legal identities of their own,
abolishing the right of husbands to physically discipline their
wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing divorce laws,
providing wives with reproductive rights of their own, and
requiring a wife's consent when sexual relations occur.
These changes have occurred primarily in Western
countries. In the 21st century, there continue to be
controversies regarding the legal status of married women,
legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within
marriage (especially sexual violence), traditional marriage
customs such as dowry and bride price, forced
marriage, marriageable age, and criminalization of
consensual behaviors such as premarital and extramarital
sex.

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