What is the Definition of Marriage?
What is the definition of marriage? Over the years, the word marriage has been challenged from its current definition as listed in Merriam-Webster 's Dictionary as an act of marrying or being married between a man and a woman. Marriage can also be defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife. The word marriage becomes a special type of bond between two people that share the same desire to become the other person’s life partner. Marriage can be challenging between two people based on their current government state laws, in their religious and cultural beliefs as well as challenging to the word to be defined
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Wedding ceremonies are often held in a variety of religious chapels for the couple based on their belief. On the other hand, many relationships are accepting a new common trend as couples are now living together, as if they are indeed married but without a legal certificate nor have gone through any ceremonial traditions.
According to Robinson, couples prefer to simply live together without ceremony or state license. Robinson also includes this type of relationship between couples are also referred to as “common-law marriage.” Today, it is common to find more couples living together as if they are married. Since 2001, the number of couples living together without the traditional ceremonial traditions by law has risen throughout the states (Slater). This type of marriage can become challenging because the commitment to one another is tested in more ways than one. Robinson explains how this type of marriage is also one that is “…an informal arrangement which may be temporary or permanent.” Marriage used to come before purchasing a house or having children however theses life changing moments are becoming the foundation of a marriage (Cherlin, 139). In doing so, couples living together and supporting one another as if they are indeed married in front of friends and family, has become a more common practice in
Marriage is the unification between a man and a woman, instituted and ordained by God, for the lifelong relationship between one man as husband and one woman as a wife. This is what the ritual of marriage means in Christian churches. Many people choose not to marry in the Christian church due to the strict format you have to follow. However, based on my ethnographic results and research, there are wide ranges of options where marriages in Catholic and Anglican religions can be adapted to, however; it is directed by their Church authorities to a certain degree.
The basic sociological concept of marriage is the socially acknowledged and approved and often legal union of two people, allowing them to live together and to have children by birth of adoption. Marriage typically is the start of how families are created and sociologists like to study marriages by seeing how the union between two people expand or dissolve. Most common marriages are a monogamy, or marriage between two people. In some laws, a marriage not only is between a man and a woman but also between two males or two females.
Recently, people have been arguing with respect to the definition of marriage. To get married is a very important event for almost everyone. Particularly for women, marriage and giving a birth could be the two major events of their lives. Andrew Sullivan and William Bennett are authors who are arguing about homosexual marriage. Sullivan believes in same-sex marriage because he thinks everyone has a right to marry. On the other hand, Bennett speaks out against Sullivan’s opinion. Bennett makes a claim that marriage is between a man and a woman structuring their entire life together. Both authors’ opinions differ on same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, their ideas are well recognized.
Marriage is very common among societies. Depending on the culture, the definition and the type of marriages differ. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Marriage is a physical, legal and moral union between man and woman in complete community life for the establishment of a family(2013).”A broader definition of marriage is that it’s ritually and socially recognized union between people who establishes rights and obligations between them.
Marriage is defined as a legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are three types of marriages; Traditional Marriage, Independent Marriage, and Separate Marriage. There are five other types of marriages founded by the Cuber and Harroff’s Five types of Marriage Theory, they are Vital Marriage, Total Marriage, Passive-Congenial Marriage, Devitalized Marriage, and Conflict-habituated Marriage.
Rosemary Acuity in her article established that the difference between marriage and civil partnership about the ‘commitment ceremony ' or divine blessing is based on same relationship relating to the marriage couple. The certified partners as a wedding bear to legal marriage and are, often referred to as ‘wedding '. Her analyses related to ‘same-sex marriage ', ‘registered partnership ', ‘civil union ' and commitment ceremony has been used compatible, but they all mean same thing. In her article, she distinguishes legal regimes for registered partnerships from the institution of marriage, and both from commitment ceremonies and religious blessings of a same-sex relationship (2004).
Marriage: a social construct in the form of a formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife.
Marriage is a system of binding a man and woman together for the reproduction, care (physical/emotional), and socialization of offspring. Marriage is a social and legal contract between a couple and the state in which they reside that regulates their economic and sexual relationship. (David, Caroline: 2005)
Marriage, also known as the matrimonial covenant, is to establish a partnership between a man and a woman for the entirety of their lives and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation
Marriage has been defined differently throughout the centuries. Today Merriam-Webster defines marriage as, “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law” (“Marriage”). Due to the recent Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transsexual or LGBT movement, Merriam-Webster also added a second line to the definition reading “The state of being
that it can look at two people as one unit. A court of law can perform a
Marriage is a ritual that marks a change in status for a man and a woman and the acceptance by society of the new family that is formed (Rosman & Rubel, 1981). Marriage, like other customs, is governed by rules (Rosman & Rubel, 1981). Anthropology has represented marriage as the definitive ritual and universally translatable regulative ideal of human societies (BORNEMAN, 1996). Marriage also the act of joining two persons of opposite sex together to become as husband and wife. Many people in the society have different opinions or outright misconception of the meaning of marriage. While some people see it as a union between a man and woman, others take it to mean an agreement made between a man
It is rooted in our traditional Western values that marriage is intended to be between man and woman. The dictionary defines it as the social institution under which a male and female establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments and religious ceremonies.1 I do not believe marriage should have an alternate definition. President George W. Bush once addressed our nation stating:
What does marriage mean? By definition, marriage is “the legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife” (Webster’s Dictionary). Most people claim that they want their marriage to last a lifetime. Because over half of all marriages in the United States end in a divorce, most people lack the understanding of what it takes to stay married. I believe that couples should become more aware of the commitment that they are making when they enter into marriage.
Marriage is the socially recognized union of two or more people. Selecting a marriage partner is very much a culturally defined process. The rules governing selection vary widely from society to society and are more often complex. How would you go about selecting a mate? Where would you begin? What criteria would you use? When we look around the world to see how other societies deal with these questions, it is clear that the ways of selecting a mate or a marriage partner has been changed from generation to generation.