Define Marriage
Name: Chunxian Huang
How might we usefully define marriage in universal cross cultural terms?
Marriage, which is one of the most vital relationships of human beings, is a bewildering subject in people’s lives because it is hard to define, especially in the cross cultural terms. Cross cultural, according to the fourth edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), is defined as “the interaction of differing cultures, or a comparison”. This means that people in cross cultural terms may need to find ways to respect other cultures. In such case, people have chances to understand the other civilization, to make acquaintances with people from multifarious backgrounds and even to have the cross-cultural marriages. Also, it is obvious that different countries, cultures or religions may vary in the definition of marriage and the understanding of marriage perhaps varies from person to person in the cross cultural society, where marriage’s legal definition, religious belief, ceremony are diverse. Moreover, in such circumstances, homosexual marriage, polygamy (someone can be legally married to more than one person at the same time) and DINK (Double Income No Kids) may happen. Therefore, many people argue that marriage is hard to define by law, religion, individual and society because of its “private, varying, complex and changing nature” (Askham, 1984). This essay will argue that marriage helps people create stability in their lives and for the society, thus it can be defined usefully for the general public in respect of cross cultural terms.
In order to demonstrate this, this essay will first focus on showing the three main factors of marriage, which are the biological, social and emotional. Then, it will illustrate the common character of the three elements and finally conclude that marriage can be defined usefully by people in the world and they can have shared understanding of marriage.
The
How might we usefully define marriage in universal cross cultural terms?
Marriage, which is one of the most vital relationships of human beings, is a bewildering subject in people’s lives because it is hard to define, especially in the cross cultural terms. Cross cultural, according to the fourth edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), is defined as “the interaction of differing cultures, or a comparison”. This means that people in cross cultural terms may need to find ways to respect other cultures. In such case, people have chances to understand the other civilization, to make acquaintances with people from multifarious backgrounds and even to have the cross-cultural marriages. Also, it is obvious that different countries, cultures or religions may vary in the definition of marriage and the understanding of marriage perhaps varies from person to person in the cross cultural society, where marriage’s legal definition, religious belief, ceremony are diverse. Moreover, in such circumstances, homosexual marriage, polygamy (someone can be legally married to more than one person at the same time) and DINK (Double Income No Kids) may happen. Therefore, many people argue that marriage is hard to define by law, religion, individual and society because of its “private, varying, complex and changing nature” (Askham, 1984). This essay will argue that marriage helps people create stability in their lives and for the society, thus it can be defined usefully for the general public in respect of cross cultural terms.
In order to demonstrate this, this essay will first focus on showing the three main factors of marriage, which are the biological, social and emotional. Then, it will illustrate the common character of the three elements and finally conclude that marriage can be defined usefully by people in the world and they can have shared understanding of marriage.
The
References: Vrba Sarah, 2012, Pre-Marital Sex Still Illegal in Morocco. Gates Sara, 2013, Premarital Sex in Indonesia Could Be Punishable By Jail Time under Proposed Criminal Law, the Huffington Post. Westermarck Edvard, 1922, The History of Human Marriage. Oppenheimer Helen, 1990, Marriage, British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. E.E.Evans Pritchard, 1990, Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer, Clarendon Press. Askham Janet, 1984, Identity and Stability in Marriage, Cambridge University Press. Macfarlane Alan, 1986, Marriage and Love in England: modes of reproduction, 1300-1840, Blackwell. Mount Ferdinand, 1992, the subversive family: an alternative history of love and marriage, New York: Maxwell Macmillan. Lucile Duberman, 1977, Marriage and other alternatives, Praeger Puvlishers. Swidler Arlene Anderson, 1990, Marriage among the religious of the world, The Edwin Mellen Press. Gottman John, Silver Nan, 1994, What Makes Marriage Work? Psychology Today Breger Rosemary and Hill Rosanna, 1998, Cross-cultural marriage, Oxford: Berg.