attitude of youths towards marriage

2014-15

SUBJECT: SOCIOLOGY II

FINAL DRAFT
ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF YOUTH TOWARDS MARRIAGE

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Dr. Sanjay Singh Shubham Patel
Associate Professor (Sociology) Roll No. 137 Dr. RMLNLU Sec. B B.A. LL.B. IInd Sem.

Acknowledgements

I take an opportunity here to pass a note of thanks to all those who have helped me in some way or the other to successfully accomplish the task of completion of this synopsis.

First and foremost I will to thank Dr. Sanjay Singh my subject teacher for giving me the opportunity to research on such an interesting topic and providing with all the necessary resources and help to fulfill this task successfully.
I would also like to thank my seniors and my dear batch-mates for providing the necessary support to complete this work.

Contents
Topic
Page No.
Acknowledgement

Introduction
1
Indian Marriage System
3
Questionnaire and Survey Work
5
Conclusion
7

Introduction
It is said that marriages are made in heaven and celebrated on earth. The popular belief is true to many extents, because it is a special bond shared between two souls, who tie the wedding knot after promising to be companions for a lifetime. It is the physical, mental and spiritual unison of two souls. It brings significant stability and substance to human relationships, which is otherwise incomplete. It plays a crucial role in transferring the culture and civilization from one generation to the other, so that the human race is prospered. The institution of marriage is beneficial to the society as a whole, because it is the foundation of the family, which in turn is the fundamental building block of the society.

While the concept of marriage remains the same across the globe, the way of solemnizing it differs extensively the key point that it is an important and turning point of the life of the two persons who are married remains same. Different laws have been formulated in order to legalize and recognize the ceremony. Apart from the laws of marriages, the rituals following during the ceremony are in total contrast to each other. Something that is seen in the western countries cannot be witnessed in other nations in the developing world, primarily due to the contrast in the lifestyle and religious beliefs. One of the prime reasons for the paramount status of marriage is that it is the license for two individuals to live together in a society, without many limitations.

Coming to the subcontinent of India, marriage encompasses a number of meanings, apart from being a legalized way of uniting two people. It bears a lot of social significance. This is primarily because in India, marriage has been considered a way to bring the families of two individuals closer. Since the ancient times, marriages have been celebrated as ceremonious occasions, just like the religious festivals, wherein a number of rituals and customs are followed. A number of ceremonies are observed before, during and after wedding.

The basic idea and concept behind this topic is to find out the views and perception of the youth about marriage. So far, I haven’t come across a survey on the same topic; therefore I am interested and curious to know about the attitude and approach of the youngsters toward this topic. The research would include a general survey to study and examine the ‘youth’s approach and attitude towards marriage’.

A Brief Introduction about Indian Marriage System

India is a nation with vast and ancient traditions. The country blossoms with an extensive numbers of colorful culture, languages, communities and tribes. India gives great significance to the tradition of marriage. Indian Marriages are always celebrated with great happiness and enthusiasm. Marriages in India are the most memorable event of one’s life.

Indian marriages are performed with great purity and making couple to learn the true meanings of being together. Marriage is also the only relationship, which connects the married couple for the life time. The most important thing in one’s life is to marry at right age, with the right person.

The most difficult task is to find the right person to marry and Indian people spend large amount of time for the matrimonial search. Nowadays love marriages have made easy for the parents to search an online matrimonial site. As now boys and girls find their own life partners and parents are left with the task of showering their love and blessings on their children for their happy married life.

In India new concept of love marriage is introduced. It has brought a new revolutionary change in the thought process of the Indians. Now Indian marriages are of more effervescent and exaggerated, due to the participation of the young minds. But in case of the arrange marriages, the process remains the same. The matrimonial search for the potential Indian bride and groom has to go a number of phases.

Parents, friends, relatives of the particular bride or groom really have to do a proper research work before forming a grouping with the other family members. There are various different ways for matrimonial search in India. It sometimes, becomes very complicated to find a perfect match for the potential Indian bride or India groom. But with the origination of internet, it has become far easier to search an Indian groom or bride for marriage.

Questionnaire and Survey Work
Love Or Arrange Marriage: Which Is Better?
What according to you is the perfect age of getting married?
If you love a girl/boy and your parents disapprove of your partner, what would you do?
Your views about remarriage of widow/widower or divorced?
According to you who have a greater responsibility after having a child, father or mother?
What are your views about polygamy and polyandry?
What are your opinions on not marrying and remarrying old age people?

The survey work comprised of various people from different age groups varying from my own batch mates to working peoples.
Most of the people almost 9 out of 10 were in favor of Love Marriage over arranged marriages. The major reason put forward in favor and preference of love marriages was that marriage is a relationship which is deemed to be for entire life and if the person who is going to be the life partner is the one whom you know from earlier and have a good understanding with then life will go on smoothly.
Most of the people were of the opinion that the perfect age for marrying would be between 25 years to 29 years as by that time the person is well settled in his financial and social life and is mature enough to take the decisions which are going to affect him or her in the long run.
On the question of parents’ disapproval from the partner which one chooses most of the people agreed on the condition that they will try to persuade their parent and tell them the gravity of feelings they both have with each other and also will put forward the point that how well their life can go if the person they are marring is the same person they love. Also agreeing that if their parents do not like something they will sort out with mutual consent concluding that ultimately parents will agree. Very few almost 1 out of 10 said that they will do according to their parent’s wish.
All of the people who were surveyed agreed on the point of remarriage of widow/widower or divorced, putting forward an argument that the person who has undergone such situation too has a right to live life happily and it’s the feelings that matter at the end not the tag.
On the question of responsibilities related to the children the answers were based upon the gender of the person to who was answering the question, most of the males gave a response that the duty and responsibilities are more inclined towards the mothers whereas the females were of the opinion that both mother and father share equal responsibilities.
On the question of polygamy and polyandry people interviewed shared a common feeling that such system should not be promoted and should be fully criminalized.
There was a common consensus seen among the people on question of remaining a bachelor, with an argument that it is solely upon the person that he wants to marry or not, if he wants to lead a single life he has all the liberties to do so. Same was the opinion with remarrying the old age people, most of the person interviewed were of the opinion that if there are two person who are old and alone and want to be married then they should do so, let the social stigma attached with this not affect their lives and it’s an onus upon us to remove stigmas like this.

CONCLUSIONS

The study revealed the following perceptions of youth on the different points of consideration adopted in the survey.
The majority, conforming to the modern notion of love and family life, chose love marriage over arrange marriage.
A larger portion of the youth were observed supporting the requisite of planning and settlement before marriage, and deeming maturity and sense of responsibility to be an imperative for the development of a good married life.
When challenged by a predicament in which they had to choose between their newly founded love and their loving parents, the latter was taken as a reference while deciding the important question of life.
On widow remarriage, the dogma which defined this practice as a taboo in the 19th century was seen completely absent in the mindsets of today’s growing youth. They could even be portrayed as the proponents of this revival in thought. Even the same was seen with the question on marrying the person who has been divorced.
Diverse views were obtained on the question whether a father, or a mother, who was more responsible towards the caretaking of the child, with a good number of people opining the need for both parents.
The subject of polygamy and polyandry faced severe criticisms. The practice was perceived as illegal and immoral, something desecrating the institution of marriage, and disgracing the society at large.
The option of not marrying and marriages of old age people were welcomed with a positive response, almost all of the people interviewed were of the pinion that a person has all the rights to live his life the way he likes to and social comments and stigmas should be tried to be removed which may on an ordinary way deter the person from doing so.