We know, or think we know, what marriage is in our own society. But
marriage, which is usually a form of domestic partnership, is notoriously
difficult to define. How does marriage vary around the world? What does religion
have to do with marriage? What rights and obligations are created by marriage?
Should someone marry one person or several? Can men ever marry men and women
marry women? Does society tell us whom to marry and whom to avoid? Do people
have to mate inside certain groups and outside others? How is marriage related
to sex? Should wedlock be an exclusive sexual arrangement? Must people always
avoid their biological relatives when they mate and marry? What's the explanation
for the incest taboo? How does marriage in nonindustrial societies differ from marriage in our own?
What kind of property is passed on when a marriage takes place? How do wealth
transfers correlate with the social status of the bride and groom? What treatment
can wives and husbands expect after they marry? Why are marriages arranged?
Is marriage only an individual matter? Is the connection between romantic love
and marriage a cultural universal? Why do men marry more than one woman, and
women team up with more than one man? What makes marriage stable or unstable?
Why do we have such a high divorce rate? This chapter attempts to answer these
and other questions as it explores human diversity as revealed in marital customs, forms, and functions. |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education