University of FloridaSolutions for Your Life

Download PDF
Publication #FAR3028

 

The Love Revolution1

Suzanna Smith2

Figure 1. 
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

If you look at television programs, listen to popular music, or go to the movies, you are likely to be bombarded with messages about the importance of romance, not only in your life but in everyone else's as well. For the most part, life seems to be about falling in love—finding, courting, and winning the devotion of the target of your affection!

Today, we have high expectations of our romantic partners and our spouses, much more so than couples in the past. According to family historian Stephanie Coontz, for thousands of years, marriage was more about bringing together in-laws from two families than it was about finding a mate or having children. Marriage was an economic investment and a political alliance, joining the capital, labor, tools, and contacts of two families.

In the 18th century the idea of a "love match" quickly replaced traditional marriage in Western Europe and North America. Suddenly couples devoted more emotional energy to their marriages than to their extended kin. They expected more of their partners—relying on them almost exclusively for intimacy and companionship. These were the seeds of the modern ideal—the spouse as close friend and romantic partner (Coontz 2004).

Generally speaking, these historical changes have made a marriage a unique and treasured personal relationship, although, as Coontz points out, the emotional weight placed on marriage may also make it less stable (Coontz 2004).

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/318.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/318.wav

Reference

Coontz, S. (2004). The world historical transformation of marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 974-979.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR3028, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 318 and published April 2009. Reviewed March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Suzanna Smith, associate professor, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.