Marriage

Lore & Background

Anthropologists have proposed several competing definitions of marriage in an attempt to encompass the wide variety of marital practices observed across cultures. Even within Western culture, definitions have careened from one extreme to another and everywhere in between.

Reader's Guide

Marriage takes many forms, depending on cultural and religious values and societal expectations. It may be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or peers, and is often viewed as a legal contract. Around the world, there has been a general trend towards ensuring equal rights for women in marriages with men, and greater tolerance towards interethnic, interracial, interfaith, interdenominational, interclass, intercommunity, transnational, and same-sex couples. Debates persist regarding the legal status of married women, leniency towards violence within marriage, customs such as dowry and bride price, marriageable age, and criminalization of premarital and extramarital sex. Anthropologists like Edvard Westermarck, Kathleen Gough, and Edmund Leach have offered competing definitions, with Leach arguing that no single definition applies to all cultures and listing ten rights associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children. The institution's significance lies in its near-universality and its role in establishing rights and obligations between spouses, children, and in-laws, while its forms—monogamy, serial monogamy, and polygamy—vary widely across societies.

Did You Know?

• Anthropologist Edmund Leach argued that no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures and offered a list of ten rights associated with marriage.
• In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered compulsory before pursuing sexual activity, and sexual intercourse with others aside from one's spouse may be considered immoral or even illegal.