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Originally Posted by zpr
I remember reading something a while ago that said that marriage was a legal arrangement from the beginning. Back in the old days, a woman could not own land or any other kind of property. A father who had nothing but daughters could not transfer the ownership of his land or other property to his wife or daughters upon his death. He could, however, transfer these things to a son-in-law. So by making the legal arrangement for his daughter to marry, he gained a son. I think this may be flawed by the fact of having a wife that he couldn't leave anything to, but the point is still there.
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The corollary of which of course, is that the original reason for the father to marry the mother is to begat sons that he could leave his property to.
The necessity to marry the daughter off to gain a son-in-law was to provide a son for the family that nature itself didn't provide.
But the core behind the social contact is still to bear children, with a strong preference for sons; to add to the society's population and bring in new people to replace the old ones who would inevitably die.
The modern trend of husbands and wifes deliberately choosing not to have kids is simply making a choice to neglect their responsibility to society for the sake of their own desires.