MARRIAGE

NATURE AND DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE

 Humankind’s most basic and oldest social unit is
the family. It is a social institution primarily
established by society to ensure its continuity
and to regulate the sexual behavior of its
members.
 The family is the primary group where the child
is initially socialized and initiated in the ways
of life of his group. The family provides the
child’s social, psychological, and emotional
needs – warmth, intimacy, affection, love,
nurturance, care and security.
 Marriage is another human construction to
ensure the continuity of the family and the
eventual perpetuation of the human species.
 Light and Keller (1985)
 defines marriage as a socially recognized
union between two or more individuals that
typically involves sexual and economic rights
and duties.

They further elucidated their view of marriage.

“Marriage is a business partnership as much as a

romantic fairytale; it involves compromises,
division of labor, specialization, financial
arrangement, and communication systems.”
Aspects of Marriage:

First, the legal point of view

 posits that marriage is a contract.

Second, religious point of view

 posits that marriages a sacrament.
The meaning of Marriage and the Family Issue

a. The most traditional social norm

 views marriage as a sacred phenomenon;

that is, the family and the marriage are

divine and holy institutions created and
maintained by God or some supreme
being greater than human beings.
Traditional Family Norms
1. Legally married
2. Married once
3. Heterosexual marriage
4. Endogamous marriage
5. Two-adult households
6. Children
7. Two parents living together
Non-traditional
Alternatives
Single-hood never married
Non- marital cohabitation
Remarriage
Multiple marriages
Same-sex marriage
Interfaith marriage
Interracial marriage
Interclass marriage
Multi-adult house holds
Communal living
Affiliated families
Voluntary childless
Single parents
Joint custody
Step families
8. Parent as key source of: School
Education Churches
Religion Governm
Protection ent-
Recreation police
9. Until death Until
Clubs,divorce or separation
professio
10. Male as provider nal sportas provider
Female
Dual careers
Commuter marriages
11. Male as ―head‖or authority Female as ―head‖
Androgynous relationships
12. Self supporting, independent Welfare
Social security
13. Premarital chastity Pre-or non-marital sex

14. Marital exclusivity Extra marital relationships

Sexually open marriages
Intimate friendships
b. A second traditional norm
 views the meaning of marriage and family as
centering primarily on social obligations.

c. A third
 meaning of marriage suggest that families and
the marital relationship exist for the
individual.
NORMS OF MARRIAGE ON THE SELECTION OF
POTENTIAL MARRIAGE PARTNERS
1. Endogamy-is a rule that requires a person to
marry someone from within his or her own
group—tribe, nationality, religion, race
community, or any other social grouping.
2. Exogamy-is a rule that requires a person to
marry someone from outside his her own group.
3. Sororate-prescribes that a widower marry the
sister or nearest kin of the decease wife.
4. Levirate-prescribes that widows marry the
brother nearest kin of the deceased husband.
FORMS OF MARRIAGE
1. Monogamy
 marriage between one man and one woman.

2. Polygamy or plural marriage

 has three forms:

a) Polygyny- one husband and two or

more wives
b) Polyandry- one wife and two or
more husbands
c) Group marriage- two or more husbands and
two or more wives.
BASIS ON CHOOSING A MARRIAGE
PARTNER
1. Parental Selection or Arranged
Marriages
 Families that have important stake in the type of
spouse their son or daughter will take usually
practice.
2. Romantic Love
 Romantic love has become an important basis
for marriage in our society. It is the theme of
most of our popular songs, the subject of many
of our movies and television shows, and made
active in scores of popular books and magazine
articles.
WHY PEOPLE MARRY
1.Love 11.Unhappy home situation
2. Economic security 12. Money
3. Emotional security 13. Companionship
4. Parent’s wishes 14. Protection
5. Escape from loneliness 15. Adventure
6. Common interest 16. Sex and sexual attraction
7. Parenthood 17.Begetting and rearing of
8. Physical attraction children
9. Compatibility 18. Acceptance
10.Martial bliss and responsibility
happiness 19.Death of a former spouse
20.Care and nurturance
happiness
DEFINITION AND NATURE OF FAMILY
The family is the basis social institution and the
primary group in society.

 Burgess and Locke (1963)

 define the family as a group of persons united
by ties of marriage, blood or adoption,
constituting a single household, interacting and
communicating with each other in their
respective social roles of husband and wife,
mother and father, son daughter, brother and
sister, creating and a common culture.
 Light (1985) - defines the family as a group of
people who are united by ties of marriage,
ancestry, or adoption and who are recognized by
the community as constituting a single household
and as having the responsibility for rearing
children.
 Murdock (1949) –defines the family as a
social group characterized by common
residence, economic cooperation and
reproduction.
THEORIES OR PERSPECTIVE ON
THE FAMILY
Three Theories:
1. The functionalist Perspective
Functionalist says that if a society is to survive and
maintain itself across time, certain essential functions
must be performed.
Functions:
a) Regulation of sexual behavior;

b) Reproduction;

c) Biological maintenance;

d) Socialization;

e) Care and protection function;

f) Social placement or group status;

g) Social control.
2. The Conflict Perspective
Jetse Sprey (1979), agree with the functionalists’
position that the family institution and other
groups in society are organized systems of
species survival.
3. The Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
The symbolic interationist direct considerable
attention to the symbolic environment in which
people carry out their daily activities.
PATTERNS OF FAMILY ORGAIZATION
A. BASED ON INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OR
MEMBERSHIP
1. Nuclear Family
 is composed of a husband and his wife and
their children in a union recognized by the
other members of the society.
a) The family of the orientation – is the
family into which a person is born and where he
is reared or socialized.
b) The family of procreation – is the family
that such person established through marriage
and consists of a husband, a wife, a sons and
daughter.
 2. Extended Family – is composed of two or more nuclear
families, economically and socially related to each other.
Linton (Murdock 1949)
Two types of family:
Conjugal family
 corresponds to the nuclear family where priority is given
to marital ties.
Consanguineal family
 corresponds to the extended family where priority is
given to blood ties.
B. BASED ON DESCENT
Descent
 implies family genealogical ties of a person with
a particular group of kinsfolk.
1. Bilateral descent- involves the reckoning of
descent through both the father’s and mother’s
families
2. Patrilineal descent- involves the reckoning
of descent through the father’s family only.
3. Matrilineal descent- involves the reckoning
of descent through the mother’s family only.
C. BASE ON
RESIDENCE
1. Patrilocal -the married couple live with or near
the husband’s family.
2. Matrilocal –the husband leaves his family and
sets up housekeeping with or near his wife’s
family.
3. Neolocal-the married couple establish a new
home; they reside independently of the parents
of either groom or bride.
4. Bilocal- it gives the couple a choice of staying
with either the groom’s parents or the bride’s
parents.
Concepts to Master:
1. Family Planning
2. Responsible Parenthood
3. Population Education
4. Sex Education
5. Contraception
6. Contraceptive devices
 Family planning experts define family
planning as the process by which
responsible and mature couples, if they
wish, determine by themselves the timing,
proper spacing and number of the children
born to them. Family planning involves
three main aspects:
1. Responsible parenthood
2. Proper spacing of children
3. Birth control
 Family planning involves the
rational utilization of effective
contraceptive methods by married
couples so they space and limit their
children to a desirable size in order for
them to attain quality life.
Contraceptive means prevention of
unwanted pregnancy, while responsible
parenthood means responsible pro-
creation and socialization of children. As
responsible parents, married couples are
prepared for the responsibility of rearing a
child who can be properly fed, clothed
and educated.
NORMS ON FAMILY PLANNING
1. Sociological Norms
Family planning is the process whereby, through
interaction, married couples arrive at an intelligent
decision in the number of children they could provide
with quality life.
2. Medical Norms
Family planning through the use of contraceptives
provides protection against unwanted pregnancies.
Contraceptives work to prevent the meeting of the egg
sperm. Family planning is concerned with the
regulation of human reproductive capacity. It involves
the prevention of unwanted births by contraceptive
techniques, or by reducing the length of exposure to
pregnancy in order to protect the well-being of the
mother, of the family, or of the larger population.
4. Ecclesiastical Norms
All the major religions of the world believe in the guiding
principle that a couple has a right to limit family size.
The Roman Catholic Church is not against family planning
but categorically condemns the use of artificial methods
as they are against the natural laws.
Psychological Norms
Family planning has psychological bearing on problems
which confront the young today brought about by their
development stage and the sexual revolution in the
present times.