Marriage, Benefits Of

Culture and Society

It has been argued that marriage provides the best type of family structure within which to raise, nurture, and socialize children to become productive members of society. On the practical side, spouses combining two incomes can, more easily than single parents, maintain a household and raise children. In addition, families are one way in which cultural and religious traditions are transmitted to the young. Being married also gives couples a connection to their community, and are recognized as spouses bound by law. Although our society tolerates and sometimes accepts cohabitation, such an arrangement is not given legal rights or as much legitimacy as marriage. More often, cohabitation is seen as a step toward the goal of getting married.

Family

Marriage creates a bond between one person and his or her spouse's family. Such a connection may be detrimental when, for example, in-laws interfere with the marital relationship or the socialization and discipline of children. However, the benefits that accrue when families are supportive are clear. The family group to which a couple belongs automatically becomes larger when they marry. The spouses are seen as family, and as such, have access to the resources of two families instead of one. Older family members can provide teaching functions for the new couple. Couple that have children also benefit from interactions with other family members, learning to socialize and become members of a larger family unit, not to mention the tangible benefits that other family members can provide.

Couple

Married couples have legal benefits that unmarried couples generally do not have. Legally, a spouse has access to the health insurance of the other and is allowed to make decisions for an ill partner when he or she is unable to make those decisions independently. In many nations, a spouse is also entitled to the retirement benefits of the deceased spouse, and married couples are given tax benefits. Married couples are also seen as more desirable parents to adopt children. In addition, in a court of law, spouses are not required to testify against each other. These benefits of [Page 1044]marriage are not given to unmarried cohabiting couples. Although marriage provides many other benefits, the legal benefits, in large part, are those that same-sex couples are fighting for.

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