MAN, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

SEPTEMBER 2017

ABXM1103

MARRIAGE AND KINSHIP

LECTURER : NOR AZNIDA BINTI NOORUL-DIN

NAME : MUHAMMAD NORMIZI BIN GHAZALLI

STUDENT ID : 730623035223001

NRIC/Passport No : 730923-03-5223

TELEFONE : 013-9280073

E-MAIL : irham219@gmail.com

LEARNING CENTRE : KOTA BHARU

CONTENTS PAGE

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

2.0 CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE 2

3.0 FUNCTIONS OF MARRIAGE 4

4.0 ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN MARRIAGE 6

5.0 CONCLUSION 8

6.0 REFERENCES 9
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a socially or ritually recognised union

between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between male and female spouses
which resulting biological or adopted children were born and affinity (in-laws and other
family through marriage). The definition of marriage varies around the world not only
between cultures and between religions, but also throughout the history of any given culture
and religion, evolving to both expand and constrict in who and what is encompassed, but
typically it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual,
are acknowledged or sanctioned.

In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing

any sexual activity such as Islam. When defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural
universal. A marriage ceremony is known as a wedding. Individuals may marry for several
reasons, including legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, and religious
purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by socially determined rules of
incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire.

In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage, polygamy, and

sometimes forced marriage, may be practiced as a cultural tradition. Conversely, such
practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns of the
infringement of women's rights, or the infringement of children's rights (both female and
male children), and because of international law. [2] In developed parts of the world, there has
been a general trend towards ensuring equal rights within marriage for women and legally
recognizing the marriages of interfaith, interracial, and same-sex couples. These trends
coincide with the broader human rights movement.

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2.0 CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE

2.1 Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal

group, a local community, or peers. It is often viewed as a contract. When a marriage is
performed and carried out by a government institution in accordance with the marriage laws
of the jurisdiction, without religious content, it is a civil marriage. Civil marriage recognizes
and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before the state. When a
marriage is performed with religious content under the auspices of a religious institution it is
a religious marriage. Religious marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations
intrinsic to matrimony before that religion. Religious marriage is known variously
as sacramental marriage in Catholicism, nikah in Islam, nissuin in Judaism, and various other
names in other faith traditions, each with their own constraints as to what constitutes, and
who can enter into, a valid religious marriage.

Some countries do not recognize locally performed religious marriage on its own, and require
a separate civil marriage for official purposes. In other countries, such as Australia, while
only civil marriage is recognised, the Marriage Act allows for a civil marriage and religious
marriage to be performed simultaneously by a clergyperson of a recognized religion if he or
she is also legally recognized as a wedding officiants (though it is illegal to purport to
solemnize religious marriages which would have been unlawful under civil law, such as
polygamous marriages or child marriages).

Conversely, civil marriage does not exist in some countries governed by a religious legal
system, such as Saudi Arabia, where marriages contracted abroad might not be recognized if
they were contracted contrary to Saudi interpretations of Islamic religious law. In countries
governed by a mixed secular-religious legal system, such as in Lebanon and Israel, locally
performed civil marriage also does not exist within the country, preventing interfaith and
various other marriages contradicting religious laws from being entered into in the country,
however, civil marriages performed abroad are recognized by the state even if they conflict
with religious laws (in the case of recognition of marriage in Israel, this includes recognition
of not only interfaith civil marriages performed abroad, but also overseas same-sex civil
marriages).

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2.2 The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals
involved, and any offspring they may produce or adopt. In terms of legal recognition, most
sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and a
diminishing number of these permit polygyny, child marriages, and forced marriages. Over
the twentieth century, a growing number of countries and other jurisdictions have lifted bans
on and have established legal recognition for interracial marriage, interfaith marriage, and
most recently, gender-neutral marriage. Some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage
through divorce or annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in
spite of national laws against the practice.

Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to
changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer
people marrying, and more couples choosing to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the
number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.

2.3 Historically, in most cultures, married women had very few rights of their own, being
considered, along with the family's children, the property of the husband; as such, they could
not own or inherit property, or represent themselves legally (see for example coverture). In
Europe, the United States, and other places in the developed world, beginning in the late 19th
century and lasting through the 21st century, marriage has undergone gradual legal changes,
aimed at improving the rights of the wife.

These changes included giving wives legal identities of their own, abolishing the right of
husbands to physically discipline their wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing
divorce laws, providing wives with reproductive rights of their own, and requiring a wife's
consent when sexual relations occur. These changes have occurred primarily in Western
countries. In the 21st century, there continue to be controversies regarding the legal status of
married women, legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within marriage (especially
sexual violence), traditional marriage customs such as dowry and bride price, forced
marriage, marriageable age, and criminalization of consensual behaviors such
as premarital and extramarital sex.

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3.0 FUNCTIONS OF MARRIAGE

3.1 BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS

First functions of marriage are biological aim. The most important aim of marriage is
biological or the satisfaction of biological needs. Sex is a natural biological need of males and
females. The satisfaction of this need however, leads to child birth.The human child is
helpless when born and requires care for several years. Therefore some sort of permanent
institution is required for care of the human children. Hence biological needs in human
society do not function in a vacuum.

It cannot be left entirely to the personal whims of males and females. At least it involves one
other person from the other sex whose welfare and satisfaction is equally important.
Therefore the satisfaction of biological needs cannot be considered as the only aim of
marriage. However it cannot be denied that this is the most important aim. Young men and
women enter into matrimony at least in part due to the biological needs. It is hence that lack
of fulfilment or consummation of sexual function leads to dissolution of marriage in almost
all human societies.

In spite of the availability of every other type of satisfaction and comforts, the impotence of
the husband or the frigidity of the wife is generally considered as sufficient basis of divorce.
Therefore, no one can deny that biological aim is the primary aim of society.

3.2 SOCIAL FUNCTIONS

Other points for functions of marriage are social aim. Begetting and bringing up children is
both a biological as well as social function of marriage. Men naturally want to multiply.
Women naturally crave for children. Therefore the urge to beget children and to bring them
up is partly a biological need. At the same time it is also a social need since social status and
communication very much depends upon the children. In India, for example, while in some
tribes prestige is attached with the son, in other tribes the birth of a daughter is more
welcome. In both the cases the craving for the birth of a son or a daughter is partly due to
social needs.

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3.3 EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONS

The institution of marriage educates the young to be responsible future parents to pass the
culture from one generation to another. Thus marriage performs the most sacred biological
function that-gives rise to the family system. The most important function of the progeny is
the continuation of the family and the lineage. Another important social function is the
extension of the bonds of kinship yet another social function is the continuation of the
cultural heritage of the society. Besides, there are some fringe social benefits to a married
person, denied to a batchelor such as social respectability, easy communicability .social
facilitation and more reliability in social relationship.

3.4 ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS

Last but not least, functions of marriage are economic aim. In primitive societies particularly,
marriage has an economic aim. In societies where the main profession is agriculture, women
are useful for light works such as sowing, etc. In such societies sometimes capable males
marry several times to have several women as helping hands. In some hilly tribes polyandry
is particularly due to the economic reason. Due to poverty one male cannot maintain a female
and therefore several males together marry a female.

Due to the economic reason again, the female is also anxious to marry several males to avoid
economic insecurity. Among Kadar people children are welcome as providing more hands to
earn living. In most of the primitive societies the women have to bear almost equal burden in
economic activities. One finds division of labour in economic activities among males and
females. The economic functions of the male and female "are not universally the same but
both must share in economic functions.

Among the above mentioned aims of marriage different social anthropologists have given
priority to different aims. George Peter Murdock studied aims of marriage in about 250
primitive societies and concluded that in human societies the marriage is generally performed
due to three aims: firstly, satisfaction of sexual desires, secondly economic cooperation and
thirdly bringing up children. According to Murdock the first aim is not the only aim
anywhere.

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In M.P.in Indian some tribes' sexual intercourses between males and females are permitted
till the establishment of pregnancy. In Kuki tribe the sexual intercourse is not a sufficient
ground for marriage. In brief, in most of the primitive societies the aims of marriage are
biological, social as well as economic.

This is equally true of the primitive societies in the West as well as in India. The most
important reason for this state of affairs is the hard struggle of life, lower economic status and
undeveloped natural environment. Therefore marriage is a union of the male and female not
only to enjoy together but also to struggle together

4.0 ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN MARRIAGE

At one time, marriage and divorce were dictated by romance, the falling in and out of love.
Nowadays, those decisions are being increasingly influenced by economic factors. “It’s not
man that marries maid, but field marries field, vineyard marries vineyard, cattle marry cattle,”
goes a German peasant saying. In its down-to-earth way, the expression states a reality in
many societies: Marriage involves economic considerations. In our culture, economic
considerations may or may not be explicit. However, in about 75 percent of the societies
known to anthropology, one or more explicit economic transactions take place before or after
the marriage. The economic transaction may include any of several forms such as bride price,
bride service, exchange of females, gift exchange, dowry, or indirect dowry.

4.1 Bride price is one of the economic transactions which mean a gift of money or goods
from the groom or his kin to the bride’s kin is known as bride price or bride wealth. The gift
usually grants the groom the right to marry the bride and the right to her children. Of all the
forms of economic transaction involved in marriage, bride price is the most common. In one
cross-cultural sample, 44 percent of societies that had economic transactions at marriage
practiced bride price; in almost all of those societies, the bride price was substantial. Bride
price is practiced all over the world, but it is especially common in Africa and Oceania.
Payment may be made in different currencies; livestock and food are two of the more
common.

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4.2 The next most common type of economic transaction at marriage is bride service which
occurring in about 19 percent of the societies with economic transactions—requires the
groom to provide bride service, or work for the bride’s family, sometimes before the marriage
begins, sometimes after. Bride service varies in duration.
In some societies, it lasts for only a few months; in others, as long as several years. Among
the North Alaskan Eskimo, for example, the boy works for his in-laws after the marriage is
arranged. To fulfill his obligation, he may simply catch a seal for them. The marriage may be
consummated at any time while he is in service. In some societies, bride service sometimes
substitutes for bride price. An individual might give bride service to reduce the amount of
bride price required. Native North and South American societies were likely to practice bride
service, particularly if they were egalitarian food collectors.

Exchange of females of the societies that have economic transactions at marriage, 6 percent
has the custom whereby a sister or female relative of the groom is exchanged for the bride.
Among the societies that practice exchange of females are the Tiv of West Africa and the
Yanomamö of Venezuela and Brazil. These societies tend to be horticultural and egalitarian,
and their women make a relatively high contribution to primary subsistence.

4.3 Another type of economic transactions is the exchange of gifts of about equal value by
the two kin groups about to be linked by marriage occurs somewhat more often (about 11
percent of those with economic transactions) than the exchange of females. Among the
Andaman Islanders, for example, as soon as a boy and girl indicate their intention to marry,
their respective sets of parents cease all communication and begin sending gifts of food and
other objects to each other through a third party. The gift exchange continues until the
marriage is completed and the two kin groups are united.

4.4 Dowry also included in economic transactions in marriage. It means a substantial transfer
of goods or money from the bride’s family to the bride, the groom, or the couple is known as
a dowry.  Unlike the types of transactions we have discussed so far, the dowry, which is
given in about 8 percent of societies with economic transactions, is usually not a transaction
between the kin of the bride and the kin of the groom. A family has to have wealth to give a
dowry, but because the goods go to the new household, no wealth comes back to the family
that gave the dowry. Payment of dowries was common in medieval and Renaissance Europe,
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where the size of the dowry often determined the desirability of the daughter. The custom is
still practiced in parts of eastern Europe and in sections of southern Italy and France, where
land is often the major item the bride’s family provides. Parts of India also practice the
dowry.

5.0 CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, there are many benefits that will gain if a marriage happens. As we all
know that after marriage family comes into being and with that the virtues of all the family
life emerge in the society.

After marriage alone relationships come into being for an example the relationship of
husband and wife, son or daughter, father in law and mother in law or that of grandfather and
grandmother etc. these relations get stabilized with the passage of time but only after
marriage but not before marriage.

It is after marriage that there is desire to perpetuate the name of the family. The children
perpetuate the names of their parents and then come grandchildren, great grand children etc.
After some time then there is a desire to perpetuate the lineage of the family and it at any
stage in the family there are no offshoots, then every effort is made to have then, so that the
name of the family continues.

The benefits that was listed above show that without marriage our whole social system
would fail and would result to many social problems. Then marriage alone has helped in
maintain high moral standards of which any society can really feel proud

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6.0 REFERENCES

1. Haviland, William A.; Prins, Harald E. L.; McBride, Bunny; Walrath, Dana
(2011). Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge (13th ed.). Cengage
Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-81178-7. "A nonethnocentric definition of marriage is a
culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights
and obligations between the people, between them and their children, and between
them and their in-laws."
2. Jump up^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2008, Vol. 1, p. 1353, US
Department of State.
3. Jump up^ Map: In Legalizing Gay Marriage, England Joins Growing International
Community | The Lowdown Archived 27 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine..
Blogs.kqed.org (15 July 2013). Retrieved on 5 September 2013.
4. Jump up^ Vucheva, Elitsa. (30 July 2013) / Social Affairs / Europeans marry older,
less often. Euobserver.com. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.
5. Jump up^ Oxford English Dictionary 11th Edition, "marriage"