The Institution of Marriage
The idea of marriage has been installed in the minds of millions of people across the globe for thousands of years. Marriage has become such a crucial component of modern society that in most individuals’ minds the idea of not ever marrying does not even register or constitute as a believable alternative for the way to live their lives. Hand in hand with money, marriage now holds a place as being a key element for the successfulness of the average American life and assurance of happiness. However, along the years, the institution of marriage has undergone severe mutation in regards to factors ranging from its rules of monogamy to the very definition of marriage. Part of the reason why this has taken place within cultures is that people are not quite sure of the meaning of marriage anymore. There are always opposing forces in rival ideas in regards to matrimony, such as whether marriage only constitutes the binding of the lives of a man and a woman, and not people of the same sex. Another idea people have yet to concur on is that of monogamous relationships being the ideal marriage arrangement in contrast to polygamy or open-ended relationships. In present times, the institution of marriage brings troublesome doubts to society’s mind such as whether a monogamous marriage, which is the most common form of marriage yet, is actually against the human nature of procreation and keeping the human species from extinction and as dominant group in the globe. People are not even in agreement with each other as to the ‘Divine mandate’ of marriage. Religion brings an icy hot feeling to the already complex problems with the institution of marriage in today’s population masses. This literature review is a means to analyzing and attempting to understand these problems in the form of the following questions:
1. What makes up the historical construction of the definition of marriage?
2. Does marriage help people’s social performance?
3. Is monogamy biologically enhanced or does it go against human nature?
4. What leads to the rejection of polygamist, open-ended or homosexual relationships in some societies?
By its conclusion, a feasible answer to each of these questions is hoped for, if not, inquiring doubt will suffice.
What Makes Up the Historical Construction of the Definition of Marriage?
The dictionary definition of marriage is now a compilation of all the possible ideas of what marriage might mean to anyone in the dictionary’s vicinity. The definitions include the “social institution under which a man and a woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments”, “a similar constitution involving partners of the same gender: gay marriage”, “the legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple”, “a relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of husband and wife”, etc (Dictionary.com). Some people of the survey answered by several students of the university even defined marriage as a contract or agreement between two people or even prison (Reyes, 2011). Evidently, as well as expectedly, the dictionary definition struggles to maintain an unbiased take on what marriage really means, trying to agree with any wandering opinion within the population in regards to its meaning. There seem to be two major leading definitions for marriage, one of which is the ‘conjugal view’ and states that marriage is exclusively the union of a man and a woman who swear to be faithful to one another and be together permanently with the hopes of creating a family together. Another view, called the ‘revisionist view’ explains that the meaning of marriage is the binding of the lives of people, let them be of different sex or otherwise, who promise to each other to love each other and support each other and share their burdens and blessings alike (George, Girgis, and Anderson, p. 3). Unfortunately for those who seek a society free of both ethical as well as political troubles and disagreements within itself, some people do not seem to find the dictionary definition to suffice. According to Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D. from Andrews University, people want to adapt the definition of marriage to suit their needs. Some agricultural societies practice polygamy, some societies find polyandry (the taking of several wives) to be more economically suitable, and some societies practice monogamy on a very loose thread, allowing them to marry and be monogamous to one partner, then divorce them, re-marry and be monogamous with them as well, and so on, which, as Dr. Bacchiocchi states, is not what was intended to be the ideal method of dealing with marriage. Bacchiocchi states that the idea of marriage has been brought upon man by Divine mandate, and says that God presented humankind with specifications as to the rules of marriage. The Bible states the rules on marriage, and people were to follow the stated principles of relationships instead of making their own, since marriage is not man-made law. Bacchiocchi also explains that many state laws that are being passed in present times ignore or break the principles of marriage stated in the bible (Bacchiocchi). Black’s Law Dictionary states that: “Marriage is the civil status of one man and one woman united in law for life...founded on the distinction of sex.” (The Heritage Foundation, 2011). People that strictly follow the definition of marriage given in the bible do not agree with open-ended marriages and same-sex marriages as being the true idea of what marriage is, since they do not follow Divine law, and are opposing God with human law. However, there are each time more and more people within society that are separating their ideals with those dictated in the bible and by religious groups. Liberal minds and the religious minds are constantly in debate with issues about marriage. Principally, same-sex marriage is a heated conflicting issue in present times concerning religious and liberalist groups. According to the Heritage Foundation Leadership for
America, numerous surveys and governmental research has shown a steady decline of marriage since the 1960s. This decline has come hand in hand with a vast amount of social problems.
Does Marriage Help People’s Social Performance?
After conducting a survey via the internet with several students of the university, 67 percent of people think that being in a marriage helps the social performance of the couple, whereas only about 41 percent of them answered that they perceived the marriages they were aware of in their lives as happy (Reyes, 2011). According to Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher in the article posted by Richard Niolon, PhD, people that are married often lead a happier, healthier, and financially better life than that of people that are not married. When a couple takes the step of marriage and begins to live as a married pair, they are expected to financially support each other. An example of this would be in the occurrence of one of the persons in the marriage losing his or her job; the other can financially support them until said person finds other employment. Married couples also oftentimes share a variety of things including housing, furniture, automobiles, insurance benefits, and meals among other belongings. This means that the payment of rent, utilities, vehicles, and other bills would be split in two for the couple, whereas the situation if both were single would change as each of them having to pay the same amount of money on their own. Studies show that married men receive more praise and promotions at work than their single counterparts, along with missing work and being tardy less often. Studies also show that women who are married end up earning a higher amount of money than women who are single (Niolon, 2010). As far as mental health goes, Waite and Gallagher state that married men have only half of the percentage of suicide as that of single men. This percentage is also only one third of what divorced men have in regards to suicide rates. Single men share a higher alcoholism rate and admit that their drinking causes problems, when the percentage of married men who drink is but half of the number of single men who do so. Waite and Gallagher affirm that only one of six single men live an alcohol-free life, whereas one in every four married men lead alcohol-free existences. Only twenty five percent of the single population report being happy with their lives, whereas forty percent of the married population says they are happy. It is also half as expected of married people to say that they are not content with their lives (Niolon, 2010). Some argue that marriage opens the door to domestic violence and thus a higher risk for death or an extensively aggressive married life. However, according to Gallagher and Waite, studies show that women are just as likely to get killed by a husband, boyfriend, or any man that they have held a relationship with in the past as to be murdered by a complete stranger. Investigations also conclude that the percentage of married couples’ fights that end up in a violent altercation is very low, and in the low chance of this taking place, couples have reported that no party is targeted or hurt more than the other. The rate of violent altercations, however, is no higher than the random chance of an individual facing a physical argument with anyone in their lives. These statistical factors completely eliminate the chance that marriage is a risk factor in the issue of domestic violence. The research conducted by Gallagher and Waite does not imply that all married couples are happier than single folk, since the results are not one hundred percent one-sided, and there are numerous people in society that live happily as part of the single group of citizens. Nonetheless, the same studies show that single men and women have higher mortality rates than those of married men and women. Sometimes these rates can go up to 250 percent higher than those of the married population; some records show that married people outlive single people by almost fifteen years (Niolon, 2010). Evidently, being in a marriage can “decrease your risk for dying from cancer as much as knocking the years off your life” (Niolon, 2010). According to the Heritage Association, “marriage is uniquely beneficial to society because it is the foundation of the family and the basic building block of society: it brings significant stability and meaning to human relationships, remains the ideal for the raising of children, and plays an important role in transmitting culture and civilization to future generations” ( The Heritage Foundation, 2011). Dr. Richard Niolon explains that “cohabitating couples” do not hold the same benefits to people than those living in a marriage. People that simply live together but are not married are less likely to give health advice such as quitting vices like smoking and/or drinking, eating healthy, doing exercise, or reckless driving (Niolon, 2010).
Is Monogamy Biologically Enhanced or Does it go Against Human Nature?
Some people believe that monogamous marriages are an idea that completely contradicts the necessities of nature in regards to human behavior. People see monogamous marriages as an obstacle for breeding and procreation, which is what they believe to be basic human nature: to keep the species going. Some see monogamy as a dying ritual in human behavior. They believe that there is no need to bother with marriage with one person when these types of relationships oftentimes have such high mortality rates. According to Sherif Girgis, writer of ‘What Is Marriage?’, states that people held matrimony as more than just means to bearing children, but as something valuable between two people. While a monogamous marriage does not stop people from procreating, it was not created for that sole purpose. Vast amounts of people believe that marriage does not go against human nature since it is in human nature to find a partner. Humans are social creatures by nature, and the finding of a life mate is one of the most natural of behaviors that humans could take part in.
What Leads to the Rejection of Polygamist or Open-Ended Relationships in Some Societies?
As stated before, societies cannot seem to concur with each other when it comes to the definition of marriage. There seem to be numerous issues regarding religion and the views of the institution of marriage imposed by the Bible and Divine mandate to humans since the beginning of the idea. Some societies see nothing wrong with polygamist relationships or open-ended relationships. Some people see it as more economically benefitting than monogamous relationships. Upon answering the question “why do some people disagree with homosexual/open-ended/polygamist relationships today?” there was an agreement within several answers that people who disagreed with these types of relationships did not understand the meaning of true love or just wanted to follow with the traditional way of thinking that their religion pushed upon them (Reyes, 2011). However, some of today’s population still finds it outrageous and shocking that these types of relationships exist. The Bible has given man specific guidelines and principles to follow when it comes to marriage, and the fact that societies take it so lightly, some of which completely ignore the words of the Lord, is simply appalling to some. There is more infidelity and divorce today than there has ever been in the past, two of which, according to people that support the stance of the Bible on the current amount of freedom in marriage, are some of the most disgraceful of crossings with marriage as instructed in the bible. The New York Times states in an article called ‘Marriage Stands Up for Itself’ that: “[t]he institution of marriage has not succumbed to infidelity so much as coexisted with it, like a body does with the flu virus: weakening at times, yet developing some immunity from long exposure”. In a survey conducted by the University of Vermont it was found that ninety-eight percent of men and eighty percent of women in committed serious relationships have sexual fantasies with people other than their partner in a time span of only two months. The longer that the relationship has lasted, evidently, the more common that fantasies such as this one are present within the couples. A survey by the Universities of Washington and North Carolina also showed that people in relationships who state that their relationship is ‘pretty happy’ are twice as more likely to cheat as those who describe their relationship as ‘very happy’ (Carey, Parker-Pope, 2009). About a ten percent of the married population has reported having sexual relations outside of their marriage and only about half percent of all marriages survive; the other half end up in divorce. According to Bacchiocchi, infidelity is not by any means the only harm washing over the institution of marriage. Today more than ever, ideas such as open-ended marriages and homosexual marriages are present in the western world’s populations.
The graph above shows the support of same-sex marriages in the United States over the years of 1994 to 2009 (Gelman, 2009). The main factor why these types of relationships are not seen by kind eye is that of religion. Religions have stated a strong idea for what marriage is supposed to consist of, how long it should be, what supports the couple should give each other, among other details. Open-ended relationships, polygamy, and the irrelevance of infidelity nowadays seem to not follow Divine mandate (Bacchiocchi).
Due to the conflicting minds of the population, marriage is at peril of not even having a specific definition. Marriage in its original idea is a vanishing ritual. It is important for people to think about not only the clinical view of marriage, but every aspect of it. Marriage should take place when two people love each other deeply. It should not be taken lightly, for it is a holy ritual in which two people make a promise to each other. If societies cannot agree on the types of relationships acceptable for marriage, the sexes of both parties in the marriage, or even the definition of the word, then they should at least make it so that they agree on the seriousness of marriage, the amount of love and caring required for people to bind their lives together, and the beauty of the opportunity to create a family with the one you love.