Editing Marriage (section)

==Partner selection==
[[File:18281018 Wife Wanted - Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet and Plymouth Journal.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5| In an 1828 "Wife Wanted" advertisement, an Englishman claiming a "great taste for building" pledges to apply a prospective wife's [[dowry]]-like £1000+ to build property that will be "settled on her for life".<ref name=CornwallGazette_18281018>{{cite news |title=A Wife Wanted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-royal-cornwall-gazette-falmouth-pac/171748936/ |newspaper=Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet and Plymouth Journal |date=18 October 1828 |page=3 }}</ref>]]
[[File:Louis_Magrath_King_and_Rinchen_Lhamo_wedding_photo.jpg|alt=|thumb|The wedding of [[Rinchen Lhamo]], a [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] woman, and [[Louis Magrath King|Louis King]], an [[English people|Englishman]]]]
There is wide cross-cultural variation in the social rules governing the selection of a partner for marriage. There is variation in the degree to which partner selection is an individual decision by the partners or a collective decision by the partners' kin groups, and there is variation in the rules regulating which partners are valid choices.

The United Nations World Fertility Report of 2003 reports that 89% of all people get married before age forty-nine.<ref name="UnitedNations, 2004">{{cite web |publisher=United Nations |date=2004 |title=World Fertility Report: 2003 |access-date=26 April 2006 |url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldfertility/World_Fertility_Report.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040729061605/http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldfertility/World_Fertility_Report.htm |archive-date=2004-07-29 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> The percent of women and men who marry before age forty-nine drops to nearly 50% in some nations and reaches near 100% in other nations.<ref name="UnitedNations, 2000">{{cite web |publisher=United Nations |date=2000 |title=World Marriage Patterns 2000 |access-date=26 April 2006 |url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldmarriage/worldmarriagepatterns2000.pdf. }}</ref>

In other cultures with less strict rules governing the groups from which a partner can be chosen the selection of a marriage partner may involve either the couple going through a selection process of [[courtship]] or the marriage may be [[arranged marriage|arranged]] by the couple's parents or an outside party, a [[matchmaking|matchmaker]].

===Age difference===
{{Main|Age disparity in sexual relationships}}
{{See also|Social stigma}}
Some people want to marry a person that is older or younger than they. This may impact marital stability<ref>{{Cite journal|title=How Does the Age Gap Between Partners Affect Their Survival?|first=SVEN|last=DREFAHL|date=7 May 2010|journal=Demography|volume=47|issue=2|pages=313–326|doi=10.1353/dem.0.0106|pmid=20608099|pmc=3000022}}</ref> and partners with more than a 10-year gap in age tend to experience social disapproval<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://phys.org/news/2018-04-mind-gap-age-difference-relationships.html|title=Mind the gap – does age difference in relationships matter?|website=phys.org}}</ref> In addition, older women (older than 35) have increased health risks when getting pregnant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/parenting/pregnancy/baby-after-40.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415195031/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/parenting/pregnancy/baby-after-40.html |archive-date=2020-04-15 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Truth About Pregnancy Over 40|first=Reyhan|last=Harmanci|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 April 2020}}</ref>

===Social status and wealth===
Some people want to marry a person with higher or lower status than them. Others want to marry people who have similar status. In many societies, women marry men who are of higher social status.<ref>{{citation |title=Why Rational Choice Theory and Sociobiology Are Natural Allies |author=Stephen K. Sanderson |url=http://www.asanet.org/sectionevol/documents/news-fall10.pdf |journal=Evolution, Biology and Society |volume=7 |issue=1 |year=2010 |access-date=18 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418164755/http://www.asanet.org/sectionevol/documents/news-fall10.pdf |archive-date=18 April 2015  }}</ref> There are marriages where each party has sought a partner of similar status. There are other marriages in which the man is older than the woman.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Lancaster, J.B. |author2=Altmann, J. |author3=Sherrod, L.R. |author4=Rossi, A. |year=2010 |title=Parenting Across the Life Span: Biosocial Dimensions |publisher=Aldine Transaction  |isbn=978-1-4128-4452-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtJMNIrKpaYC}}</ref>

Some persons also wish to engage in transactional relationship for money rather than love (thus a type of marriage of convenience). Such people are sometimes referred to as [[gold digger]]s. [[Matrimonial regime|Separate property systems]] can however be used to prevent property of being passed on to partners after divorce or death.

Higher income men are more likely to marry and less likely to divorce. High income women are more likely to divorce.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hopcroft |first1=Rosemary L. |title=High income men have high value as long-term mates in the U.S. (abstract) |journal=[[Evolution and Human Behavior]] |date=April 2021 |volume=42 |issue=3 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.03.004 |s2cid=233667442 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513821000222?dgcid=rss_sd_all |access-date=2021-03-26|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Incest taboo, exogamy and endogamy===
{{Further|Prohibited degree of kinship|Cousin marriage|Affinity (Catholic canon law)|Avunculate marriage}}

Societies have often placed restrictions on marriage to relatives, though the degree of prohibited relationship varies widely. Marriages between parents and children, or between full siblings, with few exceptions,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Strong | first = Anise | title = Incest Laws and Absent Taboos in Roman Egypt | journal = Ancient History Bulletin | volume = 20 | year = 2006 | url = https://www.academia.edu/205164}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Lewis | first = N. | title = Life in Egypt under Roman Rule | isbn = 978-0-19-814848-7 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] | year = 1983 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/lifeinegyptunder0000lewi }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frier |first1=Bruce W. |last2=Bagnall |first2=Roger S. |author2-link=Roger S. Bagnall |title=The Demography of Roman Egypt |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-46123-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Shaw | first = B.D. | title = Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt | journal = Man |series=New Series | volume = 27 | issue = 2 | year = 1992 | pages = 267–99 | jstor=2804054 | doi=10.2307/2804054}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Hopkins | first = Keith |author-link=Keith Hopkins | year = 1980 | title = Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt | journal = Comparative Studies in Society and History | volume = 22 | pages=303–54 | doi = 10.1017/S0010417500009385 | issue = 3| s2cid = 143698328 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = remijsen | first = sofie | title = Incest or Adoption? Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt Revisited | url = https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/208733/2/Journal+of+Roman+Studies+2008+Remijsen.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Scheidel | first = W. | title = Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt | journal = Journal of Biosocial Science | year = 1997 | volume = 29 | issue = 3 | pages = 361–71 | doi = 10.1017/s0021932097003611 | pmid = 9881142 | s2cid = 23732024 | url = http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/AncientWomen/ScheidelBrotherSisterMarriages.pdf | access-date = 4 July 2013 | archive-date = 2 November 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131102012940/http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/AncientWomen/ScheidelBrotherSisterMarriages.pdf  }}</ref> have been considered [[incest]] and forbidden. However, [[cousin marriage|marriages between more distant relatives]] have been much more common, with one estimate being that 80% of all marriages in history have been between second cousins or closer.<ref>{{cite web|last=Conniff |first=Richard |url=http://discovermagazine.com/2003/aug/featkiss |title=Richard Conniff. "Go Ahead, Kiss Your Cousin." |publisher=Discovermagazine.com |date=1 August 2003 }}</ref> This proportion has fallen dramatically, but still, more than 10% of all marriages are believed to be between people who are second cousins or more closely related.<ref>{{cite news |first = Sarah |last = Kershaw |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/garden/26cousins.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 |title = Shaking Off the Shame |date = 26 November 2009 | work=The New York Times}}</ref> In the United States, such marriages are now highly stigmatized, and laws ban most or all first-cousin marriage in 30 states. Specifics vary: in South Korea, historically it was illegal to marry someone with the same last name and same ancestral line.<ref>See [[Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code]] and {{Cite web|url=http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/download/decision_10years.pdf |title=The first ten years of the Korean Constitutional Court |publisher=Constitutional Court of Korea |page=242 (p. 256 of the PDF)  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219184747/http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/download/decision_10years.pdf |archive-date=19 February 2012 }}</ref>

An [[Avunculate marriage]] is a marriage that occurs between an uncle and his niece or between an aunt and her nephew. Such marriages are illegal in most countries due to incest restrictions. However, a small number of countries have legalized it, including [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], [[Austria]], [[Malaysia]],<ref>[http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%204/Act%20164.pdf Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307174301/http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%204/Act%20164.pdf |date=7 March 2012 }} (for Hindus only)</ref> and [[Russia]].<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [[s:ru:Семейный кодекс РФ/Глава 3#Статья 14|The Family Code of the Russian Federation, Article 14 (in Russian)]]. Semkodeks.ru (13 May 2009). Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref>
[[File:Mahrams Chart.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Family chart showing relatives who, in Islamic Sharia law, would be considered ''mahrim'' (or ''maharem''): unmarriageable kin with whom [[sexual intercourse]] would be considered [[incest]]uous]]

In various societies, the choice of partner is often limited to suitable persons from specific social groups. In some societies the rule is that a partner is selected from an individual's own social group – [[endogamy]], this is often the case in class- and caste-based societies. But in other societies a partner must be chosen from a different group than one's own – [[exogamy]], this may be the case in societies practicing [[totem]]ic religion where society is divided into several exogamous totemic clans, such as most [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal Australian]] societies. In other societies a person is expected to marry their [[Parallel and cross cousins|cross-cousin]], a woman must marry her father's sister's son and a man must marry his mother's brother's daughter – this is often the case if either a society has a rule of tracing kinship exclusively through patrilineal or matrilineal descent groups as among the [[Akan people]] of West Africa. Another kind of marriage selection is the [[levirate marriage]] in which widows are obligated to marry their husband's brother, mostly found in societies where kinship is based on endogamous clan groups.

Religion has commonly weighed in on the matter of which relatives, if any, are allowed to marry. Relations may be by [[consanguinity]] or [[Affinity (law)|affinity]], meaning by blood or by marriage. On the marriage of cousins, [[Catholicism|Catholic]] policy has evolved from initial acceptance, through a long period of general prohibition, to the contemporary requirement for a dispensation.<ref>
{{cite book |title=Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/forbiddenrelativ00otte |chapter-url-access=registration |last=Ottenheimer |first=Martin |year=1996 |publisher=University of Illinois |chapter=Chapter 3}}</ref> [[Islam]] has always allowed it, while [[Hindu texts]] vary widely.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.islamonline.net/?p=5223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716082845/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503544772 |archive-date=16 July 2007 |title=Islamic View on Marrying Cousins |publisher=IslamonLine.net  |access-date=4 June 2017 }}</ref><ref name="indiasocialstructure">{{cite book |title=India: Social Structure |page = 55 |first=Mysore Narasimhachar |last=Srinivas |year=1980 |publisher=Hindustan Publishing Corporation |location=Delhi |isbn=978-1-4128-2619-8}}</ref>

===Prescriptive marriage===
{{Main|Arranged marriage}}
[[File:Lodewijk XIV-Marriage.jpg|thumb|left|An arranged marriage between [[Louis XIV of France]] and [[Maria Theresa of Spain]]]]

In a wide array of lineage-based societies with a [[Kinship|classificatory kinship system]], potential spouses are sought from a specific class of relative as determined by a prescriptive marriage rule. This rule may be expressed by anthropologists using a "descriptive" kinship term, such as a "man's mother's brother's daughter" (also known as a "cross-cousin"). Such descriptive rules mask the participant's perspective: a man should marry a woman from his mother's lineage. Within the society's kinship terminology, such relatives are usually indicated by a specific term which sets them apart as potentially marriageable. [[Pierre Bourdieu]] notes, however, that very few marriages ever follow the rule, and that when they do so, it is for "practical kinship" reasons such as the preservation of family property, rather than the "official kinship" ideology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bourdieu|first=Pierre|title=Outline of a Theory of Practice|year=1972|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |pages=27–29}}</ref>

[[File:Minangkabau wedding 2.jpg|thumb|right|Indonesian wedding]]

Insofar as regular marriages following prescriptive rules occur, lineages are linked together in fixed relationships; these ties between lineages may form political alliances in kinship dominated societies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Radcliffe-Brown, A.R.|first=Daryll Forde|title=African Systems of Kinship and Marriage|year=1950|publisher=KPI Limited|location=London}}</ref> French [[Structural functionalism|structural]] anthropologist [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] developed [[alliance theory]] to account for the "elementary" kinship structures created by the limited number of prescriptive marriage rules possible.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lévi-Strauss|first=Claude|title=Structural Anthropology|url=https://archive.org/details/structuralanthro00lv|url-access=registration|year=1963|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-465-08230-8}}</ref>

A pragmatic (or 'arranged') marriage is made easier by formal procedures of family or group politics. A responsible authority sets up or encourages the marriage; they may, indeed, engage a professional [[matchmaking|matchmaker]] to find a suitable spouse for an unmarried person. The authority figure could be parents, family, a religious official, or a group consensus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Orange County Register|url=https://www.ocregister.com/2021/07/03/south-l-a-man-faces-federal-charges-related-to-fireworks-explosion-that-injured-17/|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Orange County Register|date=4 July 2021|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Forced marriage===
{{Main|Forced marriage}}
[[File:Oskar Shmerling. Free love (Forced marriage). Molla Nasreddin.jpg|thumb|right|Criticism about the [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]] society tradition from domestic violence to the social and political participation of women in the community]]
A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages continue to be practiced in parts of the world, especially in [[South Asia]] and [[Africa]]. The line between forced marriage and consensual marriage may become blurred, because the social norms of these cultures dictate that one should never oppose the desire of one's parents/relatives in regard to the choice of a spouse; in such cultures, it is not necessary for violence, threats, intimidation etc. to occur, the person simply "consents" to the marriage even if they do not want it, out of the implied social pressure and duty. The customs of [[bride price]] and [[dowry]], that exist in parts of the world, can lead to [[bride buying]] and selling people into marriage.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml#section_2 Ethics – Slavery: Modern slavery]. BBC. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-41_en.pdf Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Gulnara Shahinian]. United Nations. Human Rights Council Twenty-first session. 10 July 2012</ref>

In some societies, ranging from [[Central Asia]] to the [[Caucasus]] to Africa, the custom of [[bride kidnapping]] still exists, in which a woman is captured by a man and his friends. Sometimes this covers an [[elopement]], but sometimes it depends on [[sexual violence]]. In previous times, ''[[raptio]]'' was a larger-scale version of this, with groups of women captured by groups of men, sometimes in war; the most famous example is [[The Rape of the Sabine Women]], which provided the first citizens of Rome with their wives.

Other marriage partners are more or less imposed on an individual. For example, [[widow inheritance]] provides a widow with another man from her late husband's brothers.

In rural areas of India, [[child marriage]] is practiced, with parents often arranging the wedding, sometimes even before the child is born.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_child_marriage.htm |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070816221639/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_child_marriage.htm  |archive-date=16 August 2007 |title=Child Marriage Factsheet: State of World Population 2005 |publisher=UNFPA }}</ref> This practice was made illegal under the [[Child Marriage Restraint Act]] of 1929.