Summary of “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love”

Summary of The Radical desire of Marrying for Love In the essay The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love, Stephanie Coontz surveys the history of wedding party throughout the world, uncover its historical pur engenders and the philosophies surrounding it. Coontz gives examples of how once people married for utility, necessity, and social advantages. She explains how over time and through the ever-changing vagarys about love and the sexes that people now marry for love, companionship, and personal happiness. Before modern time the idea of marrying for love was discouraged.Men and wo custody participated in arranged marriages or married for reasons of practicality rather than affection. Some considered marital love a hindrance to more valued relationships between family and god whereas in modern time it is expected that you set apart your spouse before any other family member or obligation. Although some cultures believed that love would develop aft(prenominal) marriage, it was not a requirement for a successful marriage as it is today the measurement of a successful marriage then was financial prosperity and healthy children.Historically in some instances love was meant hardly for a mistress or concubine, not a wife or husband. In some move of the world there is no marital exclusivity that we see in modern Europe and America. In these places, men and women take multiple wives or husbands, or even extra marital sexual partners without the jealousy that would sure arise in modern relationships. In these places multiple partners are acceptable because they benefit the family in providing for children and in sharing responsibility.Coontz attributes the shift in martial expectations from marrying for practicality to marrying for love, to the social enlightenments, political revisions, and financial changes that occurred from the 17th century forward. She states that, basing marriage on love and companionship represented a break with thousands of years of usanc e. These breaks in tradition lead to many new fears about the future of marriage, the family, and how its new structure would affect society. Ultimately these changes would pose a serious threat to the stability of the new system of marriage.