Track 21

Unit 12

Sociology

Marriage

Page 115

Try it out!

Although marrying someone who we love seems natural to many people, it’s actually a rather new idea in the Western Hemisphere. Up until about 300 years ago, many Europeans had a very different reason for marrying: business. Traditionally people in Europe lived in the same building where their business was located. And in these circumstances, marriages were often like business partnerships between a husband and wife. And you might be interested to know that this practice still exists in some parts of the world.

However, as business is gradually separated from the home, this economic reason for marriage which was really a kind of external motivation, weakened. And it was replaced by internal motivations for marriage such as personal feelings, desires and personal preferences. Okay, now let’s take a look.