STYLES OF MARRIAGES

Styles of Marriages



Styles of Marriages



Thesis: While American marriages are having problems coping with society's economics pressures, couples today are developing different styles of marriages outside and inside the customs of marriage life instead of getting rid of the marriage.

1. Abstract

A marriage of convenience, a basic and fundamental exchange of money and sex, in which two people stay together for the superficial goodies, usually what money can but or a divorce can deplete.

2. Introduction

Styles of marriage also differ between cultures. Monogamy is the dominant style of marriage in the West, but is less so in non-Western cultures. This may be due to economic pressures. For example, in certain areas of Tibet where living conditions are harsh, a woman may marry two or more brothers. This is called polyandry and may have benefits for both men and women - it means that there are more men to produce resources, and all parents share a genetic interest in all the children. Polygyny develops in conditions where resources are plentiful and women do better to share a husband and childcare duties.

3. Analysis

Styles of open marriage are distinctions between open marriages based on the motives for participating in open marriage and on the nature of extramarital relationships.

Couples in open marriages may prefer different kinds of extramarital relationships. Couples who prefer extramarital relationships emphasizing love and emotional involvement have a polyamorous style of open marriage. Couples who prefer extramarital relationships emphasizing sexual gratification and recreational friendships have a swinging style of open marriage. These distinctions may depend on psychological factors such as sociosexuality and may contribute to the formation of separate Polyamory and Swinging communities. Despite their distinctions, however, all open marriages share common issues: the lack of social acceptance, the need to maintain the relationship as a couple, and the need to manage jealous rivalry.

Monogamy is 'natural' from a Western perspective, and probably less than 0.5 per cent of human societies have practised polyandry as a common form of marriage. Westerners seem to believe more in the romantic cupid style of love. Passionate romantic love has been interpreted as a largely western and individualistic culture. This is demonstrated especially in Kephart (1967) stud where he asked Americans 'If someone had all other qualities you desired in a marriage partner, would you marry this person if you were not in love? 'Over twice as many men said no as did women, but the main idea was that people said no in a western society. Supporting this idea of the cupid notion of falling of love was a study done by Rothbaum and Tsang where they analysed the content of American and Chinese love songs. They found that Chinese songs made more references to sadness, the future, ad the context in which love occurred, whilst American songs focused more directly on the loved one .Reinforcing the idea of an apparent difference in relationships between Western and Non western cultures. Sexual jealousy is a more apparent phenomenon in Western cultures as 53% of ...