Transition of Marriage: A Global Perspective

Introduction.

Over time, has taken many different forms and taken on different purposes. One of the regions where it is easiest to see this transition is the United States. In the article, “Choosing Mates—the American Way”, it is described how American culture has given way to the change of marriage to be less practical and more emotionally based. Even so, there are places all over the world where there is still a transition or where it’s a cultural aspect that marriage still be more of an institution. For example, marriage in Mauritania, Africa is still largely based on displays of wealth and social status and though love plays a role, it is not what’s most important. Similarly in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, women marry for economic security

Before there was development of what was acceptable, humans tended to have sex outside of any kind of binding ceremony or marriage. Marriage didn’t develop till the first affluent society known as the Cro-Magnon people. They developed moral codes for sex, marriage, divorce, and adultery. One of the trademarks of this society was as strict moral code. There was societal pressure to behave in a particular way because “the power of conscience is the glue of society”. There were however, actual consequences to breaking the moral code such as public ridicule, fierce arguments, or a mild beating. The Cro-Magnon people had to be very careful about breaking this moral code because being ostracized from society was the equivalent being left for dead. There were not places to hide dramatic decisions because gossip was one of the only past times so news traveled very quickly. This code was what kept their society from tearing apart. This clearly developed into something that’s less important though because during the time of the hunter gatherers, adultery was not seen as catastrophic as it is seen by other societies. Going even further, during the time of the Egyptian, Iranian, and Roman power heavy era, there were exceptions made despite the taboo against incest. To preserve the line of succession, sometimes a brother would marry his sister thereby keeping any kind of inheritance that would be the

For women living in Bobo-Dioulasso, marriage is a rite of passage even though they may not always have financial means, an aspect still important in marriages there. Technically, getting married is a socioeconomic assurance for brides however this is not always the case but rather, brides feel a lack of solid foundation. Undoubtedly, this can be largely attributed to the sudden way in which the people of Bobo-Dioulasso go about finding an adequate partner for marriage. There are two kinds of marriage that are predominantly seen in Bobo-Dioulasso, traditional marriages and civil marriages. The clear distinctions between these two kinds of marriage are that while the civil marriage provides stability for brides in the case of divorce or death, traditional marriages are simply going by the word of the groom before the wedding ceremony. Polygamy is practiced by some residents of Bobo-Dioulasso so if a potential bride should marry a groom traditionally, she could not object to him deciding to have many wives. Whereas by making it legal will allow the wife certain rights and provide financial protection should there be any kind of unprecedented occurrence such as divorce or death. Traditionally, wives don’t have a say in