Marriage and Family in Different Cultures

Marriage and Family In today’s society marriage is defined by the Merriam Webster as “the formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife or a relationship between married people or the period for which it lasts”. Although there are many classifications and characterizations of marriages given in dictionaries and the text which was given to read, these only give a brief description of all the types and varieties of family types and marriages in the world today. As mentioned in the text, there are various types of family structures and different types of marriages but they would be looked at in further detail as they are somewhat different to what we know about today, but there are some pros and cons to each side of this text or chapter. Initially as stated in the text there are several types of family structures and types of marriages. The types of marriages are polyandry, monogamy, polygyny, polygamy. The types of family structures are blended, nuclear, extended, single parent, fictive kinship and family by choice. In the text these are well laid out for the reader to comprehend but they may seem quite intriguing, baffling and educational. First off some of these structures and types may seem offensive to some people because of their religious beliefs, culture of that village or country or even how they were raised. For example, polygamy, polygyny and polyandry would be heavily criticized and ostracized by the Christian or Pentecostal community as they see and value marriage as something that is unique and sacred to one man and one woman at that point in time. They may also criticize these types of marriages as it does not represent what God had planned out in the bible because they strongly believe and adhere to how the first people were and that is as husband and wife, and that marriage should represent the union of Adam and Eve. Another con of these types of marriage would