Pertaining to arranged marriage vs free will marriage (you choose your partner). According to Wikipedia- arranged marriages result in very few divorces, while the divorce rate for most of the U.S is over 50%.. so are your parents really better at picking that you? Have you ever been divorced? If your parents had some imput on your choise of spouse do you think it would have resulted in the way it did? Simply curious here people- I am in no way promoting idea, I just want some ideas about it.. It's odd however that arranged marriages have below 4% divorce rate while free will marriages have over 50%..
2007-05-04 12:21:13 · 6 answers · asked by Goldylocks 5 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage
2007-05-04 12:21:39 · update #1
Thank you guys for pointing out that yes most of the cultures who have the low divorce rates are religious and morally against it..
2007-05-04 12:30:28 · update #2
I have to agree with the answerers above. I teach a unit on the Hindu culture so I visited India to learn more myself. There are many areas that still live very closely by the caste system whereby a family's child is only allowed to married within their caste or "social grouping." A gataka or matchmaker will actually find a suitable match for their child. They do not marry for love, but for many various reasons that might ultimately lead them to love their potential match. (or not). To end such a marriage would be cause dishonor to their family and would be considered inauspicious. Therefore, culturally, it just is not done. It is their place to serve this marriage and carry out the responsibilities that accompany it with the knowledge that if they lead a good life they will be rewarded in the next. These people have such a strong sense of culture and religion, that breaking such customs would just about be unheard of. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that the divorce rate is so low. Does that mean that this works? Well, cultures evolve. Traditions and customs will always remain, but cultures DO evolve. In larger cities such as New Delhi you see free marriage with little reference to the caste system. Obviously this is my opion, but if something works it is rarely a custom that will evolve with change. Seeing how this is changing, people of varying degrees of beliefs are evolving and finding reason to oppose the traditional. It is not my place to say which is right or which is wrong for a people that have lived by customs for hundreds of years. There are marriages of love that don't even seem to work. And there are marriages of convience that do. And of course.......vice versa. But as I mentioned before....... nothing evolves unless their is a calling for change.
(Nice question Joni!!) :)
2007-05-05 15:30:16 · answer #1 · answered by Marianne not Ginger™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think the low divorce rate among arranged marriages has anything to do with whether or not they like each other better, it has to do with the CULTURE. A girl who is obedient enough to let her parent's choose her husband will probably be obedient to her husband too and not even CONSIDER divorce. Same goes for the men. Divorce just isn't part of their culture, it's not an option.
2007-05-04 19:28:33 · answer #2 · answered by luvrats 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Divorce rates have little to do with it being arranged or not. It's because cultures that still do such things have a self created sense of honor. It would be dishonorable to your family to divorce the wife your parents chose for you. Not many people have the will power and self awareness to go against such a powerful stigma.
2007-05-04 19:45:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
well think of this way:
people who marry through someone else's arrangement are:
. either very religious, so would never think of premarital relationship and so never think of divorce (which is ok)
. or have low self esteem, think that they cannot find anyone else, so cant divorce too
. or very conservative or obedient and afraid of social pressure about divorce
so the real question is: are the ones who dont divorce really happy with the marriage? and are the ones who divorce are sad/happy about that?
ps. I am not supporting divorce or smt.
2007-05-04 19:28:13 · answer #4 · answered by studenttherapist 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Wow that is so strange. I suppose some parents might be pretty good at looking at a future husband/wife and knowing whether or not they'd get along or not. I've been married for 1 year now. My parents really like my husband and he and I dated since we were 17. We've been together 7 years now. We still love spending every moment together. No divorce in sight for us. lol
2007-05-04 19:31:31 · answer #5 · answered by hotmetalfreeq 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lots of arranged marriages last because the culture is against divorce, so the couple could be very unhappily married.
2007-05-04 19:27:37 · answer #6 · answered by Julz 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋