Marriage Defining Marriage

Marriage

Defining Marriage

• There is no single definition of marriage that is adequate to account for all of the diversity found in marriages cross-culturally.

• In America marriage is legislated to be monogamous and heterosexual

Marriage and Rights

• Edmund Leach argued that there are several different kinds of rights allocated by marriage.

• Marriage can establish the legal father of a woman’s children and the legal mother of a man’s.

• Marriage can give either or both spouses a monopoly in the sexuality of the other.

• Marriage can give either or both spouses rights to the labor of the other.

• Marriage can give either or both spouses rights over the other’s property.

• Marriage can establish a joint fund of property—a partnership—for the benefit of the children.

• Marriage can establish a socially significant relationship of affinity between spouses and their relatives.