Human Courtship: Past, Present, and Future - Essay Example

Human Courtship: Past, Present and Future Marriage is considerably a significant union between two partners which is arranged by the society for the need of association with the society. It is also noted as a very important responsibility as the partners have to accept rights and obligations of each other. It is due to this reason that people preferred to understand the partner before getting marriage. In order to make sure that individuals were taking a correct decision of getting married to a person who would understand them, the concept of human courtship was introduced back in 1800s. Herein, it must be accounted that the subject chosen for this paper is human courtship which is defined as a time period that allows a couple to spend time with each other to know preferences, likes and dislikes and other behaviorist approaches. On the basis of courtship, individuals decide whether they want to live with each other in a stronger bond of marriage. Courtship, traditionally, was being arranged by families. However, in the modern times, marriage has become a personal choice where interference of parents has been made less. A number of reasons have led this change to occur in a society. There are a couple of reasons behind the selection of human courtship as a subject of this paper. Firstly, I understood that marriage is a very noble decision in the lives of people. Most of the cultures even consider marriage as a sacred way of living life. The question that arose in my mind was the fact that people in the modern days are not able to sustain their marriages for a longer period of time. I wanted to know the reasons behind successful marriages in the past. Other than that, personally I have had friends who knew each other before marriage and tend to spend a very good life because they state their decision of knowing each other as a best decision of their life. I wanted to know whether the way of knowing each other before marriage is an accepted belief in the society or not. In addition, I wanted to gain knowledge regarding the gradual acceptance of this belief in the society. On research, there were a number of facts that noted its application difference in various cultures of world. I believe that with the help of understanding this subject, I will be much more able to understand the intensity of subject matter i.e. marriage. Furthermore, there are two differing viewpoints in the society that are greatly associated with the concept of marriage. Firstly, it is the approach of getting married to a person which is arranged by others and secondly, people find their partners themselves without the interference of their parents. As a matter of fact, there is an ongoing debate regarding both the ways of getting married. In both the cases the period of courtship remains similar in a literal manner. In order to achieve clarity regarding the effectiveness of the methods, I have selected the subject of human courtship for this paper. In addition, I aim to create a perspective of marriage so that I can apply it personally. By understanding the subject matter chosen for this paper, I expect myself to get aware with differing views and the practicality of their explanations. I understand that it is very significant to be aware of origin of marriage so that it can be carried or sustained in a successful manner. Therefore, understanding courtship rather helps as a way to approach marriage in practicality. The concept of human courtship has been researched and investigated by a number of researchers and scholars. It should be noted that there is increase invariance of beliefs regarding human courtship. Herein, it can be well-stated that sociologists have used the concept in order to explain gender issues. The research within the context of human courtship was conducted in 20th century but the fact remains that it is an old institutions of 1800s. The modern research regarding human courtship does not just discuss it as a sole subject but rather brings modern norms such as dating as a conflicting subject to it. In simpler words, it can be said that the researchers have investigated the subject of human courtship within the context of dating which is a generally accepted approach to marriage in modern times. According to a research conducted by Perper (1985), it was marked that marriages were previously led after determining and knowing a person during courtship. It was claimed that courtship as a process of knowing the other person is and was a belief introduced by males. However, Perper in his study claimed that it is rather constructed by women. In the same context, another research was conducted by Moore (1985) who maintained in his research that men used to respond to the proposal of human courtship before marriage because women were keen on knowing the person. In the similar way, this belief was investigated and accepted by a great deal of scholars. On the other hand, another set of literature regarding human courtship was introduced by feminist writers who stated that human courtship was merely a process to judge women. In other words, it can be said that these feminists’ writers blamed men as individuals who overthrew the power of women by asking for courtship. A great deal of understanding can be achieved regarding courtship if it is compared from a modern and traditional perspective. Researchers have marked that courtship was organized traditionally. There were certain structures that were followed by the groups who were involved in setting up the marriage. Most importantly, these courtship sessions had a number of rules which differed from one society to another. In most of the cases of marriages, parents and respective guardians were involved in finding the true match for their offspring where courtship provided a way to the couple to understand each other and decide whether they are suited for each other. Talking about the difference in approach for human courtship in various cultures, the Japanese and Chinese cultures give higher adherence to the subject of courtship. In both the cultures, courtship has always been accepted as a powerful way of setting up marriages. Japanese tradition marked the subject of courtship with the name of Omiai. In case of Chinese culture, courtship was practiced in certain regions with the name of Xiangqin. The practice of courtship in the previous times is not different from the modern way of arranged marriages. Traditionally, parents closely looked for partners for their offspring for a good period of time. Sometimes, it was noted that the search for the right partner was conducted during the childhood of their offspring. Another way to get the true match for their offspring, parents used to write documented qualities and details about their children. These documents were submitted to the matchmakers who were responsible to help families find the best match for their offspring. In this case, it has been observed by the researchers that Read More