The role of marriage in today’s world


If there is something that virtually all the world’s various cultures have in common, it is marriage. Beliefs, diet and languages vary greatly, but the desire people have to share their lives with another seems universal. Why then, is marriage so popular? Psychologists have said that people have a deep need for the emotional security which marriage provides. Knowing that one has a partner in life makes it easier to cope with some problems of daily life. On the other hand, the fact that many single people are content to live alone suggests that the emotional need theory is incomplete.
According to the supporters of this view, people marry in order to increase their wealth, either by marrying a rich partner or because or because, as the saying goes, “two can live as cheaply as one.”
It is true that financial considerations are often the primary reason that people marry. Yet there are countless examples of people “marrying for love”, regardless of their mate’s lack of money. All in all, marriage continues to be extremely popular in many societies. Most of us have a need for love and support and want to have children at some point in our lives.
Fully understanding the reasons why people marry, though, may be as difficult as understanding the human mind itself.