This is a place where I write things down and people read them and then judge me.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Marrying for Love is Not the Whole Story.
I found this article in The Star very interesting. It essentially says that in mixed marriages someone of a minority ethnicity "marries down" with a white partner. I don't know what group this is most offensive to, but either way it is a little offensive. The article also talks about how little romantic love actually plays into marriage choices, instead suggesting that a better indicatior is social class. This makes sense when one thinks that a person is normally attracted to someone who has similar experiences to themselves. Being from a social science background, I can really point out that there are too many factors interacting with one another to really say anything concrete, but again I though this was interesting.
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I don't think anything in the article is particularly surprising, but what I'm trying to figure out is how to apply it on a personal level. What the hell does this mean for me? It's amusing to think of one's self as part of this collective consciousness that is maintaining the institution of marriage in the 21st century. I think of all the Romantic poetry and prose that I've read and wonder what the connection is to popular culture today. I assume that the "multi-million-dollar wedding industry" that the article refers to has developed in the 20th century, a little while after contemporary ideas of romantic love became commonplace. So we remain loyal to these concept romantic love, though we exhibit behavior that suggests the input of subconscious factors relating to socio-economic status.
I have no idea what this means for us as a culture, but I'm sure the Singularity will sort it all out.
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