criticisms of marriage

Marriage has been criticized from a variety of viewpoints and for many reasons. A famous early criticism of marriage can be found in Plato's The Republic, which recommends group marriage. Many commentators have often been critical of individual local practices and traditions, often leading to changes. Examples include the early Catholic Church's efforts to eliminate concubinage and temporary marriage, the Protestant acceptance of divorce, the abolition in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries of laws against inter-faith and inter-race marriages in western countries, etc.

Contemporary attitudes have developed from several political and social movements. A feminist viewpoint suggests that modern marriage can be particularly disadvantageous to women economically and socially. The Fathers' rights movement suggests that there is a continuing societal bias towards women as custodial parents in the face of "no-fault" divorce laws and is unjust to men when marriages fail.