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 Mohsin Mia
Assistant Professor, Sociology
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Marriage
 Marriage

 One of the universal social institutions

 Established by the human society
 Aim is to control and regulate sex life of human
 Closely connected with institution of family
What is Marriage?

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.”

Edward Westermark,
“Marriage is a relation of one or more men to one or
more women which is recognized by customs or law
and involves certain rights and duties both in case of
parties entering into the union and in the case of
children born of it.”
Cited in ‘History of human marriage’
What is Marriage?

Malinowski
Marriage is a “ contract for the production
and maintenance of children. ”
(Cited in: C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology, p.327, 2007)

R.H. Lowie
“ Marriage is a relatively permanent bond
between permissible mates.”
(Cited in: C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology, p.327, 2007)
Characteristics of marriage

Universality

Creates Relationship
mutual between
obligation men and
women

Associated
with civil Bond is
and enduring
religious
ceremony

Requires
social
approval
 Characteristics of Marriage:
 Marriage is a universal social institution. It is found in
almost all societies and at all stages of development.
 Marriage is a permanent bond between husband and
wife. It is designed to fulfill the social, psychological,
biological and religious aims.
 Marriage is a specific relationship between two
individuals of opposite sex and based on mutual rights
and obligations. Relationship is enduring.
 Marriage requires social approval. The relationship
between men and women must have social approval.
Without which marriage is not valid.
 Marriage establishes family. Family helps in providing
facilities for the procreation and upbringing of children.
Characteristics of Marriage:

 Marriage creates mutual obligations between

husband and wife. The couple fulfill their mutual
obligations on the basis of customs or rules.
 Marriage is always associated with some civil
and religious ceremony. This social and religious
ceremony provides validity to marriage. Though
modern marriage performed in courts still it
requires certain religious or customary practices.
 Marriage regulates sex relationship according to
prescribed customs and laws.
 Marriage has certain symbols like ring,
vermillion, special cloths, special sign before the
house etc.
 Marriage – two views

1. Conjugal view: a sexual union of husband and wife

who promised each other sexual fidelity, mutual
caretaking and the joint parenting of any children
they may have.

2. The Revisionist view: a relationship created by the

couple for the fulfilment of the two individuals who
enter into it.

To know more please see the link..

https://discussingmarriage.org/the-conjugal-vs-
revisionist-views-of-marriage/
Forms of marriage
 On the basis of number of mates:
Forms of marriage

Monogamy
Monogamy refers to a marriage of one man with one
woman at a time.
 Serial Monogamy: In serial Monogamous marriage
the possibility of remarriage exists in case of divorce
or death. In spite of his remarriage he remains to be
monogamous.
 Non-serial Monogamy:
In case of non-serial monogamy the question of
remarriage does not arise by either of the couple.
Here a spouse has the same single spouse
throughout his life.
Forms of marriage
Polygamy:
 Polygamy is a type of marriage in which there is
plurality of partners. It allows a man to marry more
than one woman or a woman to marry more than one
man at a time.

Polygyny:
 Polygyny is a type of marriage in which a man,in
particular, marries more than one wife at a time. In
this type of marriage each wife has her separate
household and the husband visits them in turn.
Forms of marriage
Sorroral Polygyny:
 It refers to a marriage practice in which a man
marries the sisters of his wife at a time

Non-sororal Polygyny:
 It is just opposite of the sororal polygamy, when a man
marries several women at a time who are not
necessarily sister to each other it is known as non-
sororal polygamy.
Forms of marriage
Polyandry:
 In this type of marriage a woman marries several men at a
time.
Fraternal Polyandry:
 When several brothers share a common wife it is called as
fraternal polyandry. Draupadi’s marriage to Pandabs is
fine example of fraternal polyandry. At present time this
type of marriage is practised by some tribals like toda and
khasi.
Non-fraternal Polyandry:
 In this type of marriage husbands of a woman is not
necessarily brother to each other. This type of marriage is
found among the Nayars of Kerala, Wife goes to spend
some time with each of her husband. So long as a woman
lives with one of her husbands, the others have no claim
on her. This mainly happens due to scarcity of women.
Forms of marriage
Endogamy or Group Marriage:
 Endogamy is otherwise known as group marriage.
 In this type of marriage a group of men marry a
group of women at a time.
 Every woman is the wife of every man belonging to
the particular groups.
 Sociologist, like Dr. Rivers call it as a kind of sexual
communism.
 This type of marriage is found among some tribes of
New Guinea and Africa,
Forms of marriage

On the basis of choice of mate or on the basis of

rules of mate selection
Forms of marriage
Endogamy or endogamous marriage:
 Endogamy or endogamous marriage refers to the
marriage within one’s own group such as caste, sub-
caste, varna and tribe.

Exogamy or Exogamous marriage:

 It refers to a system of marriage in which an
individual has to marry outside one’s own group such
as gotra, pravara, sapinda or village.
Forms of marriage
On the basis of preference or priority
Cross-cousin marriage
 This type of marriage occur to avoid payment of high
bride price and to maintain one’s family property.
Parallel Cousin marriage
 When marriage takes place between the children of
either two sisters or two brothers
Levirate
 When a woman marries her husband’s brother after
the death of her husband it is known as levirate.
Sororate
 When a man marries his wife’s sister after the death
of his wife
Forms of marriage
Hypergamy:
 When a man of higher caste or varna marries a
woman of lower caste or varna it is called as
Hypergamy marriage. In traditional Indian society
hypergamy is known as Anuloma.

Hypogamy:
 When a man of lower caste or status marries a
woman of higher caste or status it is known as or
hypogamy marriage (pratiloma). This is not an
approved form of marriage.
Forms of marriage
On the basis of partner selection process
 Arrange marriage
 Affair/love marriage
Functions of marriage
Biological Functions:
 It is the means to satisfy sexual desire of human beings
 It ensures the continuation of human race and society
through channelized reproduction
 Both married men and women enjoy better health on
average than do single or divorced individuals
 Married people appear to manage illness and better,
monitor each other‟s health
 ‟Marriage makes people live longer‟ and “makes people
healthier”
 Children who live with their own married parents enjoy
better physical health, on average, than do children in other
family forms.
 Marriage appears to have a protective effect on children‟s
physical health and life expectancy
Functions of marriage
Psychological functions
 helps the individual to achieve a higher level of
personality maturation
 marriage creates an important sense of identity and
self-worth
 a spouse may provide emotional intimacy and
support, fulfilling an essential human need for
connection
 married people may be happier, more satisfied, and
less depressed than those who are unmarried
Functions of marriage
Social functions:
 Through marriage new Kinsmen are acquired
because spouses relative are added to one’s own group
of Kin.
 The institution of marriage also enables the society to
assign to the parents their responsibility of
socializing the child by transforming social customs
and social regulations
Functions of marriage

Economic functions
 Marriage of men and women create family in which
men and women share their labours to satisfy the
economic needs of the family members.
 Both male and female remain engaged in economic
activities through the institution of marriage for the
economic upliftment of the family.
Functions of marriage
Legal function
 Marriage regulates and socially validates sexual
relations between males and females.
 Provide legitimacy to offspring
Class activity/reflection

Future of marriage as
a social institution
THA
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YOU

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