Since ancient times, marriage has served a crucial and specific social and economic purpose: clarifying the lines of inheritance. Notably, this purpose is becoming obsolete faster by the day, bringing into question the very institution of marriage. This article is a summary of a brainstorming session into this issue.
Since ancient times, in the absence of any paperwork marriage decided how property was passed on from one generation to the next over time. The ceremony of marriage was therefore a public affairs, with almost every acquaintance invited – so that the lines of inheritance are openly declared and well known to the society. In absence of documents, it was this society that would vouch for and enforce the lines of inheritance established through marriage.
With joint families, often the responsibility of elders was to be borne collectively by all the members of the next generations in the family. If my brother failed to bear a son, my son would have to bear the costs of maintaining my brother and sister in law in their old age. In order to avoid this burden on my dear child, as soon as my brother comes of age, I would encourage or pester him to get married. As soon as he gets married, I would be interested in the arrival of his progeny. Since this was the common custom followed in all families, it would be natural for any elder person to enquire about reproductive prospects of a newly married couple. By extension, the whole society took interest in when the married couple is going to have the next child. I don’t want my sons to pay for my brother and his wife! I better goad my brother into producing as many heirs as possible. It is not difficult to extrapolate a similar situation to cases of communal societies, beyond the system of joint families.
Human cultures and societies change at a certain natural pace, while technology and world in recent years have traversed leaps and bounds.
Institution of marriage has persisted without much change, but rules of inheritance have changed completely! You may will your property to your child, or to some celebrity across the continents, or donate it to some charity. As witness for this will, you no longer need all members of the society to be present at the time of this declaration. A paper signed in presence of a licenced notary or attorney is more credible than a thousand people pleading on your behalf. Inheritance can be sorted through documents, and there are laws to enforce it. Old age maintenance can be taken care of by making investments in retirement plans and a host of other avenues.
Today, as we move from papers to digitization within a matter of a generation, this function of marriages becomes absolutely obsolete. Nuclear families, retirement plans, and old age homes are becoming the standard. At such times, institution of marriage is losing its social relevance, and becoming a matter of personal choice.
The question then is, how is marriage relevant anymore? Marriage is a socially important institution, and cannot be simply discarded even if it becomes completely irrelevant.
Reasons for marriage are not social or universal anymore. They will be very personal and will differ from person to person.
If you want to get married, it is because it adds to your personal happiness or life satisfaction. If you want to have children, it is because having children and watching them grow up gives a sense of purpose to your personal life.
It is only natural that the youngsters question the tendency of society to enquire about their marriage and pregnancy. The society still imitates the behavior patterns it has seen its parents perform. Few wise fellows understand the futility of this imitation, but are unable to frame it in logic and words for the society to understand, and adapt the new ways.
Hope this helps them.
What are your reasons for marriage? Let me know in the comments below!
This post is a work in progress. I’ll be adding more points as I think of any. Feel free to propose your arguments.
Shreyas's Blog 