The document discusses betrothal, engagement, and marriage. It describes betrothal as a transitional period between being single and married where a public promise is made. Engagement escalates intimacy and consecrates exclusivity. Marriage was historically an economic transaction but is now a social institution symbolized by rituals like rings, dresses, and weddings. Weddings incorporate traditions like white dresses and vows that reinforce heteronormative standards, though same-sex marriages are increasingly accepted. Attitudes toward marriage's role and weddings' costs are changing in modern society.

1. Betrothal and marriage
Celebration Events | By Ashley Garlick

2. Betrothal and marriage
A liminal
process
• Single transition,
or many?
01
Remember
the rites of
passage
02
Implications
for social roles
and identity
03
Significant use
of ritual and
symbolism
04

3. Betrothal

4. Engagement
• A public promise of marriage
• A contract?
• A transitional period between being single to being
married
• Usually follows a process of coupling
• Until marriage became more formalized, betrothal
rivaled weddings in significance

5. What does it do?
• An opportunity to create a mutually shared
understanding of the relationship
• Escalates the level of intimacy, and consecrates
the exclusivity of the relationship
• Enables the respective families to anticipate
changes to social roles
Sniezek, T. (2013). Negotiating Marriage: A Process Model of Heterosexual Engagement. Sage Open, July-September, pp.1-14

6. A process model of engagement
Assessing the
relational future
The relational
conversation
Negotiating
joint definitions
of the
relationship
Formalizing the
new definition
of the
relationship
Publicizing the
new definition
Sniezek, T. (2013). Negotiating Marriage: A Process Model of Heterosexual Engagement. Sage Open, July-September, pp.1-14

7. The
importance of
symbols
• Proposer seeks approval
• ‘Down on one knee’
• Presentation of a ring

8. Marriage

9. History
• Prior to 19th Century, marriage was primarily an
economic transaction
• A way to accumulate resources and solidify social
bonds
• Church weddings did not enter law until 1753
• Until 1836 Marriage Act, it was the only way
to get married
• Reformed in 1949 and 2013
• Remains inherently a social institution

10. Types of marriage
• Faith marriage
• Civil marriage
• Arranged marriage
• Consanguineous marriage
• Same-sex marriage
• Polygamy
• Shotgun marriage
• Sham marriage

11. Social significance
of marriage and
family
• Still exists social pressure for
traditional family unit
• Expectation of marriage before
childbirth
• ”Shotgun marriage”: a relationship
in which the woman has the first
delivery within seven months of
marriage
• Influenced by social expectations,
meaning these will change as
social norms are tested and
evolved
Source: Castro-Vazquez, G. (2015). Shotgun weddings in
contemporary Japan. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(6), pp.747-762.

12. Symbols
• Rings
• Dresses
• Flowers
• Favours
• Food
• Gifts

13. Going to the
chapel…
• A ‘fairy-tale fantasy’
• A bride in a white dress
• Ceremony with procession and vows
• Celebratory reception
• Often accompanied by a honeymoon

14. The ‘fairy-tale’
wedding
• The “white wedding”, associated with
the wedding dress
• Only became popular following the
wedding of Queen Victoria in 1840
• Symbolism of white – associated with
purity and virginity
• The term now encapsulates the Western
normative wedding
• Reinforced by fantasy or aspirational
weddings, e.g. by Disney or Royalty

15. White weddings and
heteronormative hegemony
• The power of a traditional ‘normal’ wedding to
influence people to want the same
• Influence of celebrity and the media
• Conspicuous consumption (Veblen, 1899)
• Habitus (Bourdieu, 1979)
Arend, P. (2016). Consumption as common sense: Heteronormative hegemony and white wedding desire.
Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(1), pp.144-163

16. Habitus
• The way we have internalised the external
environment, and how this affects our behaviours
• The physical embodiment of cultural capital
• Often linked to class or social status
“People are comfortable when there is a
correspondence between habitus and field” (Savage, et
al, 2005 in: Andrews and Leopold, 2013, p.112)
Economic
capital
Social
capital
Cultural
capital
Forms of capital
Bourdieu, P. (1979). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Translated from French by R. Nice,
2010, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

17. The role of faith and
religion
• Provides legitimate liturgy
• Consecrates the relationship above a
‘human’ level
• Secures devotion to God disrupted by
love between the couple
• Has the role changed in an increasingly
secularized society?

18. Modern attitudes to
weddings
• Excessively costly and wasteful
• Average cost of a wedding is £17,913 (Bridebook,
2018)
• Dominated by consumption and consumerism
• A “culture of love”
• Wedding industry complex
Source: Bridebook (2018). National Wedding Survey 2018. Available from: www.bridebook.co.uk.
Fetner, T. and Heath, M. (2016). Do Same-sex and Straight Weddings Aspire to the Fairytale? Women’s Conformity and
Resistance to Traditional Weddings. Sociological Perspectives, 59(4), pp.721-742

19. Same-sex weddings
• Same-sex marriage now legalised in some countries (in
addition to Civil Partnerships)
• Resistance to heteronormativity
• Some desire a “normal” wedding
• Some fears about being co-opted into established
institution
• Attitudes of partners focus more on sense of security and
partnership
• Nontraditional norms that may destabilize conventional
marital patterns
Source: Fetner, T. and Heath, M. (2016). Do Same-sex and Straight Weddings Aspire to the Fairytale?
Women’s Conformity and Resistance to Traditional Weddings. Sociological Perspectives, 59(4), pp.721-742

20. Any questions?