Question

Why is it " inconceivable," according to Coontz, that young people in most cultures in the past would have chosen a spouse based on love?

Answer 1

Why is it " inconceivable," according to Coontz, that young people in most cultures in the past would have chosen a spouse based on love?

According to coontz, it is not possible that young people would only have chosen partners in the basis of live, because, in the earlier days, marriage was not only about individual happiness, rather this was more of an arrangement between people which would give them not only financial comfort but also a status - on an economical as well as political front. It would be a symbol of status, for the propertied class such that they would gather wealth or marriage was even done as a peace treaty. In the people of lower class, it would be a way for conducting capital transactions and young people were considered immature to understand such complexities.