THE INFLUENCE OF URBANIZATION ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

ABSTRACT

During the industrial revolution when agricultural Jobs had become less common, workers moved towards manufacturing hubs in cities to obtain Jobs in factories. The exodus of People from rural areas to urban centers altered the orientation of marriages and the values the institution of marriage espoused.

Urbanization and its consequences touch on the various facets of our lives, and even though there are positive effects, Marriage as a social institution, and the families involved undoubtedly have not been spared of its negative repercussions.

For instance, it was identified in the research that to a large extent, the increase in the number of People living in these cities has contributed to the adoption of certain types of marriages among which are ―trial‖ and ―gay/lesbian‖ marriages. These marriages are seen to be gaining grounds and establishing deep roots in the society thereby militating Christian marriages and taking the beauty out of them. Although these types of marriages may not be common in our part of the world, they are worth discussing them because of the global nature of urbanization and the institution of marriage.

Again, the results of the research indicate that the exposure of People to certain factors of social change in the city has changed their taste and preferences and therefore impacted on their Fertility rates, Families and living arrangements, Domestic relations, and also deepened their Consciousness on the ―foreign‖ types of marriages.

Based  on  the  findings  gathered  from  the  study,  the  researcher  concluded  that Urbanization

involves major shifts in the ways People work and live, and offers unprecedented opportunities for the improved standards of living, higher life expectancy and higher literacy levels, as well as

better environmental sustainability and a more efficient use of increasingly scarce natural resources. For women, urbanization is associated with greater access to employment opportunities, lower fertility levels and increase independence.

However, the urban family is immersed in a complex social environment that encompasses the entire breath of human experience. Marriage as a social institution is caught up in the web/ entanglements of urbanization and therefore has not been spared of the pressures that seem to be exerted on families which have tasted and continue to taste urban life. A balanced treatment of the impacts of urbanization is therefore useful, though empirical evidence suggests that positive aspects generally outweigh negative ones.

African traditional marriage is a process oriented to the extended family. Today the influence of the extended family has dwindled and as a result there‘s been a shift of attention to the nuclear family. These factors among others as identified in the study have been deemed to have influence the status of marriage.

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