Running Head: ARRANGED MARRIAGES VS. LOVE MARRIAGES… WHO WILL END UP WITH A DIVORCE?
Arranged Marriages vs. Love Marriages… Who will end up with a Divorce?
Introduction
Relationships are pivotal elements in the lives of the individuals as they determine their success in the activities that they may engage in. there are various types of the relationships as one progresses from birth to death. The most significant relationships that are usually difficult to sustain are the marital relationships because of the fact that a person has to stay with another for the rest of their lives; this matter has raised a lot of controversies that has led to the ruining of the marital relationships. The main issue under investigation has been the ways to be implemented in order to facilitate the prevalence or the existence of the marriages without being broken or ruined and thus reduce the chances of the occurrence of the divorces that then eventually ruins the relationships (Batabyal, 2006).
This paper is an analysis of the results obtained from the responses received from individuals of different relationship statuses as far as the issue of the marital relationships is concerned. The main question of the research was to investigate which types pf the marriages are more likely to break due to the divorce; either the arranged marriages or the love marriages. The research encompassed individuals from different ranges of age ranging from below 18 years to 35 years, their responses were recorded down on their perceptions of the two kinds of marriages as far as the vulnerability of the occurrence of the divorces is concerned (Munchick, 1998).
Ten individuals were asked regarding the love and arranged marriages, how they view them (in terms of the occurrence of divorce) and the reasons why they prefer the specific kind of the marriage that they chose. All the interviewed people preferred the love marriages to the arranged marriages. They however gave different responses on the same as to why they preferred the love marriages and the reasons as to why the love marriages have less cases of the occurrence of the divorce and therefore enables the marital couples to stay together happily. The majority of the interviewees were youths in the age bracket of between 18 years to 25 years the majority of them were single, some in relationships and others engaged. In this analysis it will discuss about a specific group of people their responses were as follows:
Data Analysis
The first interviewee is single and prefers the love marriages to the arranged marriages, she argues that the love marriages are the best and have less occurrences of the divorces because the couples will have time to court and therefore get to understand each other before they finally get married and therefore the chances of them having a divorce are negligible. The interviewee asserts that the arranged marriages have the biggest problem of divorce because the couples do not understand each other and therefore in the event of a problem, they will divorce and thus ruin or break their marriage. The second interviewee is also for the love marriages and postulates that for a marriage to have less chances of the occurrence of the divorce cases there is need for the couples to understand each other’s thoughts and differences. The arranged marriages are shown as the ones vulnerable to the divorce cases because of lack of the mutual understanding of the couples (Munchick, 1998).
The third response was from an individual who is in a relationship and also prefers the love marriages to the arranged marriages because he believes the love marriages are attained on the basis of understanding each other and therefore where there is prevalence of love the chances of divorce sparking up are minimal. From this response it is also indicated that the arranged marriages are the ones that are associated with the biggest problem of the occurrence of the divorce that breaks the marriages. There is however a difference in the perception over the type of the marriages that are exposed to the problem of divorce. The fourth response is from a person who is engaged and prefers the love marriages as well. However, he says that they are also the ones exposed to the highest problem of divorce. He supports his argument that the nature of the marriage does not determine the prevalence of the occurrence of divorce, but it is the nature of the persons that are engaged in the marital relationship (Mitchell, 2009).
The fifth response if from a married individual who also concedes to the love marriages and states that there is no need of having love before marriage but some kind of relationships or friendship that will enable one to each other better and therefore according to this response either of the marriages is fine, the consideration is to understand each other by having some friendship or relationship between the couple. It is also shown that the love marriages are the ones that are at risk of the occurrence of divorce. The interviewer does not give a clear argument for his choice on the love marriages being the ones that are prone to divorce; he bases his choice on hearsay and also that people in love may lose the feelings a few months after the marriage and therefore divorce (Herizig, 2006).
The sixth response is from a single person and he also has preference for the love marriages. The love marriages are said to be vital because the couples will develop a connection with each other and also naturally the love marriages have an element of natural love that will enhance the sustenance of the marriage than if an individual was just chosen for. Arranged marriages are said to make the individuals force themselves to fall in love and because they do not know each other the chances of divorce are high. The seventh response is from a person who is in a relationship and also prefers the love marriages to the arranged marriages because the love marriages will involve the choice on a person for who he/she is and not from where he or she is coming from or her looks. The arranged marriages are viewed as the ones exposed to the risk of divorce because the couples do not understand each other before marriage and thus they may dislike some behaviors of their spouses and when they realize them while married they will definitely divorce (Ganeshananthan, 2008).
The response from the eighth interviewee also prefers the love marriages to the arranged marriages because in the love marriages the people love each other and know each other. Arranged marriages are prone to divorces because of the lack of the lack of the common interests that results in the lack of love and therefore lead to misunderstandings. The ninth response is from an engaged person and he also prefers the love marriages to the arranged marriages. He argues that the individuals have a right to be in love and choose a person whom they will be happy with; this is not provided by the arranged marriages and thus makes them be at risk of having divorces and breakages in the families/marriages as thy do not know each other. The final response indicates that love marriages are the best and that if people are in love, they can pass any life challenge. However, they are also the ones at risk of divorce as sometimes there may not be true love between them and if they realize this they may easily break up (Munchick, 1998).
Conclusion
A large percentage of the people prefer the love marriages to the arranged marriages; this is because they will understand each other and thus live happily. Lack of love between the couples always leads to the divorce and break ups in the marriages, this is common in the arranged marriages. In spite of this there are different views on the types of the marriages that are prone to divorce, it is argued that all may be exposed to divorce; the kind of marriage does not matter but the kind of the people in the marital relationship (Ganeshananthan, 2008).
Reference:
Batabyal, A (2006). Stochastic models of decision making in arranged marriages. University Press of America.
Ganeshananthan, V (2008). Love Marriage. Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Herizig, P (2006). South Asians in Kenya: gender, generation and changing identities in diaspora
Volume 8 of Kultur, Gesellschaft, Umwelt Volume 8 of Culture, Society, Environment Series. LIT Verlag Münster.
Mitchell, B (2009). Family Matters: An Introduction to Family Sociology in Canada. Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Munchick, V (1998). Romantic love and sexual behavior: perspectives from the social sciences. Greenwood Publishing Group.
