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Paper Topic:

Marriage and Alternative Family Lifestyles,

Running Head : Marriage

Marriage and Alternative Family lifestyles






Marriage refers to a union between two people whose interpersonal relationship is acknowledged by the religious authority or the state in which the individuals belong to . The social status of the two individuals usually changes when they get married . The reasons why people get married include legal , social and economic stability . Some people will get married in to form a family unit to obtain citizenship to legitimize sexual relations and to procreate . Different

marriage forms exist monogamy , polygamy and recently same sex marriage The marriage institution has been experiencing a lot of changes over the recent past

Thesis statement

In many parts of the world the marriage institution has undergone social , cultural and economic related changes . These changes have in turn changed the marriage styles and the structures . The styles and structures within a marriage depend on the social and cultural beliefs of the society . In the contemporary world both the marriage style and structure have changed

Early American marriages

In the early American marriages the institution was acknowledged for being a very common arrangement for bringing up children . Most Americans viewed a marriage as an ideal institution of forming a family (Ernest , W , and Harvey J . 1945 . The age at which people married was higher as compared to the modern world age of those getting married For instance in the 1890s men married at twenty-six and women at twenty-four . Marriage styles such as cohabiting were very rare then Most children who were born then were born inside a legal marriage institution . It is also vital to note that the divorce rate in early American marriages was very low . Single parent families were few and usually resulted from death of one partner (parent ) or divorce women in early American marriages were often dependent on men to provide for the family

Definition of a marriage

The definition of a marriage has been changing with time . One of the definitions indicates that a marriage is a personal union between two individuals of the opposite sex . Their union is usually acknowledged by the religious authority or the state law . People who get married do so for various reasons and the marriage forms they adopt are also different . Through marriage the individuals who are involved have both legal and normative obligations . The individuals to be married are always expected to do so willingly and will full consent . Factors such as race , nationality , color and religion have all been recognized to affect the choice of a partner to whom one should get married . It is through the process of courtship that people who wish to get married identify and learn more about each other before they get married Forced marriages occur when an individual is compelled to marry someone against her or his wish . Such kind of marriages attracts harsh criticism . Weddings are recognized worldwide as ceremonies through which a marriage is formalized . The marriage structure and style changes have in...
