In a coherent society, humanity lives not according to the laws of nature but according to the laws, which society and social code dictate to people. Having decided the question of survival, humanity can afford its living taking into account the feelings and emotions of individuals and not caring about the best ways of growing in number. That is why in the majority of states relationships are now being built based on the principles of faith and devotion.
Men and women chose one partner and tried to do their best to preserve and save this bond, guarantee its stable development and prosperity. The idea of fidelity is widely accepted in society and a persons devotion to his/her partner is praised and encouraged. However, there are still states, in which men have the right to have several partners at the same time.
It is explained by religious aspects and by polygamous nature of a man. Being responsible for the continuation of mankind, a man should have as many partners as it is possible to guarantee the prosperity of humanity. Being rather popular at different periods of our history, polygamous and monogamous relations have their advantages and disadvantages. However, being widely spread nowadays, monogamy needs further analysis.
Nowadays, monogamy is determined as a marriage or relations with only one person at a time (DeLecce para. 1). This sort of relations is considered to be the only legal type of bond in the majority of states all over the world. However, there were times when people considered monogamy to be wrong and unacceptable. Archeologists and paleontologists often find some evidence which prove that in ancestral times, people practiced polygamy as it was the best way to guarantee their survival.
Usually, the strongest men had the right to have several wives. It was a beneficial practice from evolution as the best man could give his qualities to descendants. However, in the process of its development, humanity changed the model of its behavior and started practicing monogamy. This shift was influenced by several factors.
One of the most important was the religious aspect. Christian church became more influential and powerful, and it promoted the development of monogamous relations, strictly forbidding relations with several women at one time. However, being in a marriage with one woman, a man still practiced relations with another. The change in consciousness of people came with the development of complicated and democratic societies, where the moral became powerful enough to influence the choice and behavior of men.
Having chosen a monogamous type of relations, humanity gained some obvious advantages. The first one is more stable and clear relationships within the married couple. Being the basic element of the society, a family should be strong enough to be able to develop itself and guarantee the development of the state.
Within this framework, this sort of relations seems to be more preferable. Having only one partner, a person is more caring, and he/she devotes most of his/her efforts trying to guarantee happiness and comfort to his/her beloved one. The second advantage is a better treatment for children in a monogamous family. There was a high degree of child mortality in the societies which practiced polygamy as men could have as many children as he could afford, though not being involved or interested in their raising (Shuiling 56).
Moreover, there were cases of male infanticide as men were trying to get rid of would be rivals (Lukas and Clutton-Brock 527). On the contrary, the typical modern monogamous family has one or two children, that is why it is very important for both partners to guarantee their childrens safeness and upbringing. Parents devote the greater part of their time, forces and funds to the creation of good conditions under which their children will live.
However, there are not only advantages of this sort of relations. First of all, it should be said that from evolution, monogamy is very dangerous and makes humanity weaker. There is no use denying the fact, that monogamous family cannot produce as many children as polygamous and that is why the future of society seems to be more vulnerable.
Though, mortality degree of children being lower in monogamous families, polygamous ones still give more would be members of society. Moreover, there is one more disadvantage in practicing monogamy. Very often monogamous relations succumb to boredom and jealousy. Being together for a long period, partners very often become tired of each other. In its turn, it can lead to psychological and physiological problems.
Moreover, a great number of crimes are committed by one of the partners on the foot of jealousy or some other inner problems. Polygamous marriage lacks this drawback, guaranteeing diversity for one of the partners. Moreover, monogamous relations can suggest more ways to avoid scandals and misunderstanding within a couple.
Nowadays, monogamous relations are standard for the majority of states all over the world. People accepted this model with all its advantages and disadvantages. Having made this choice under the influence of several factors, people now live according to its rules. There are several problems connected with this type of relations. The first one is that being officially married or in relations with a partner, very often a person has a lot of partners outside these relations.
Formally being monogamous, in practice these relations turn out to be polygamous. That is why it is possible to speak about the deceitful character of this sort of relations as it promotes the development of jealousy and misunderstanding.
However, it should be said that monogamous family is the only way for people to raise children and respect each other which seem to be acceptable in modern society as it respects rights and does not humiliate the dignity of one of the partners. Nevertheless, it still has some prejudices connected with the role of women in marriage, that is why it is possible to say that monogamous relations are not so ideal as they often said to be.
Having analyzed the data, it is possible to come to certain conclusions. First of all, it should be said that the sort of relations in which a person has the only partner and is devoted to him/her is the most popular in the world. Monogamy is a common mating system in a modern democratic society.
Developed under the influence of the Church and moral aspects, it now still has some advantages and disadvantages. Guaranteeing tighter relation between partners within a family, it also supplies children with better conditions, under which they live and develop. However, it sill promotes the development of jealousy and violence within a family. With this in mind, it is impossible to call monogamy an ideal type of relations for people as they still have strong animal instincts.
Works Cited
DeLecce, Tara. What Is Monogamy? n.d.
Lukas, Douglas and Tom Clutton-Brock. “The Evolution of Social Monogamy in Mammals”. Science. 341.6145 (2013): 526 – 530.
Shuiling, GA. “The benefit and the doubt: why monogamy?”Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 24.1 (2003): 55-61.