The social institutions such as education, religion, politics and legal system have a very important impact on marriages and families. A social institution is a major sphere of social life with specific set of rules and beliefs. These rules and beliefs then guide the behavior of the people towards family and marriages.
A marriage is an institutional arrangement between two individuals that gives a public recognition to the social and intimate bonds between two people. A family is a relationship that arises out of blood, marriage, affection in which the members cooperate economically and care for the children. The members of the family identify themselves to be connected to a larger group. The values, norms and beliefs of this larger group have a very strong influence on the values and norms of the families.
Education helps the people to think rationally and tends to broaden the frame of thinking. The social institution of education has a very strong influence on marriages and families. The availability of education to a larger number of people, particularly to women has had a strong influence on families and marriages. There has been an increase in the number of working women in the families and the average age of marriage has increased.
The religion affects the thinking process of the individuals. The society that comprises of people with deeply religious people is likely to experience lower divorce rates. Moreover religions require their followers to marry within their own religion that affects the marriages of the individuals.
Similarly the political and legal system can also influence the structure of families and marriages. In certain countries the law prohibits marriages between the same sex individuals or more that one child in a family. The legal system gets influenced by the policies of the different political parties and thus affects families and marriages.