Marriage

Marriage is an ever-changing institution found in virtually every society. It has tra­ditionally served several functions for society and individuals. It typically provides stable family units, in which children acquire knowledge about their society’s rules and mores through the teachings of their married parents or kinship groups. Mar­riage functions as an economic partnership that integrates child rearing, perfor­mance of household tasks, and earning an income into one family unit. Marriage also defines inheritance rights to family property. For thousands of years, marriage has been about property and politics instead of personal happiness and love (Nordlund, 2009). Arranged marriage prevailed in Europe before the 19th century. Parents in elite classes arranged their children’s marriages to develop alliances between families, consolidate wealth and political power, and even maintain peace between countries. Marriage in lower classes was also an economic arrangement; building a labor pool of children and combining skills, resources, and helpful in-laws were primary consider­ations (Coontz, 2005).