婚姻(marriage)
法律上和社会上获准的结合，通常是一名男子与至少一名女子的结合，使後代取得法律地位，并受到规范这些伙伴权利与义务之法律、条例、习俗、信仰、态度的节制。西元2000年，尼德兰成为使同性婚姻合法化的第一个国家。婚姻的普遍性要归功於它所进行的许多基本社会与个人功能，例如：生儿育女和提供性满足与性节制；儿童照顾和他们的教育与社会化；宗系遗传的节制；性别分工；经济的生产与消费；个人对社会地位、亲情、同伴关系等需求的满足。在现代以前，婚姻很少是自由的选择。在西方社会，爱情已经与婚姻产生关联，然而在历史上，浪漫爱情一直不是大部分时代婚姻关系的主要动机，而获准的婚姻伙伴在大部分社会中一直受到严格节制。在大家庭仍是基本单位的社会中，婚姻通常由家庭安排。其假设是伴侣之间的爱情发生在婚後，而更考虑到此一结合为较大家庭带来的社会、经济方面的好处。在使用安排式婚姻的社会中，某种形式的嫁妆或彩礼几乎是普遍的。围绕着婚姻的仪式和典礼主要牵涉到宗教与生育，证实了婚姻在延续家庭、氏族、部落或社会方面的重要性。亦请参阅divorce、exogamy and endogamy、polygamy。
English version：
marriage
Legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and one or more women, that accords status to their offspring and is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners. In 2000 The Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. The universality of marriage is attributed to the many basic social and personal functions it performs, such as procreation and provision for sexual gratification and regulation, care of children and their education and socialization, regulation of lines of descent, division of labor between the sexes, economic production and consumption, and satisfaction of personal needs for social status, affection, and companionship. Until modern times, marriage was rarely a matter of free choice. In Western society, love has come to be associated with marriage; historically, however, romantic love has not been a primary motive for matrimony in most eras, and permissible marriage partners have been carefully regulated in most societies. In societies in which the extended family remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners comes after marriage, and much thought is given to the socioeconomic advantages accruing to the larger family from the match. Some form of dowry or bridewealth is almost universal in societies that use arranged marriages. The rituals and ceremonies surrounding marriage are associated primarily with religion and fertility and validate the importance of marriage for the continuation of a family, clan, tribe, or society. See also divorce, exogamy and endogamy, polygamy.
