Comparison of Love and Traditional Economic Marriages

Nowadays it is often taken for granted that marriages should be between partners who
love each other. It has not always been this way though. Until early years of the twentieth
century, marriages were mostly based on economics and politics, not love (Benokraitis 170).
That has now changed and love marriages have now become universal with more than 89 percent
of societies favoring them to marriages that are based on economic, social, or political factors
(Benokraitis 170). This shift to love marriages certainly has had an impact not just on marriage
practices but also hook-ups and dating in the USA.
Idealization of love marriages has led spouses feeling the need to show each other love in
marriages. Thus, it has become common for husbands to express love and affection to their
wives and vice versa (Benokraitis 171). As for hook-ups and dating, idealization of love
marriages has led people to consider factors such as physical attractiveness and shared interests
when choosing a lover rather than factors such economic, social, and political advantages of
being in a relationship with a particular person (Benokraitis 170). Thus, idealization of love
marriages has changed not only the way people choose relationship and marriage partners but
also the way they conduct themselves in those relationships and marriages.
The rise of love marriages at the expense of traditional economic marriages does not
mean that the latter are a wholly bad arrangement. To the contrary, it has benefits that love
marriages lack. For instance, such marriages are more stable because they involve support of
both families in resolving marital problems (Benokraitis 171). They are also not based on
emotions whose fragility often causes problems that may end up leading to divorce (Benokraitis
171). The main weakness of this marriage is that a person may struggle to live together in
marriage with their partner if they find them to be unattractive to them (Akhtar et al. 18). Thus,
traditional economic marriages, like other marriages, have their strengths and downsides.
Just like traditional economic marriages, contemporary love marriages have advantages
as well as disadvantages. One of their advantage is that they are based on love, trust, and
friendship (Benokraitis 170). Thus, partners are more likely to have high levels of happiness in
such marriages. On the flipside, love marriages are generally unstable as they are mainly based
on the emotion of love (Benokraitis 171). Once the emotion die they are likely to start
experiencing problems. This fact explains why divorce rates remain relatively high in countries
that practice love marriages such as the US (Benokraitis 171). Thus, while love marriages
provide a lot happiness to partners they also tend to be unstable.
The high level of happiness and the general instability of love marriages can be explained
by biological perspective of love. This perspective holds that love is produced through an
interplay of neurotransmitters, chemicals, and hormones. Once these wane, the relationship is
held together purely by attachment (Benokraitis 151). This factors explain why love marriages

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tend to be short lived. The relative stability of traditional economic marriages, on the other hand,
can be explained by Reiss Wheel Theory of love. This theory argues that mutual dependence is a
key component of relationship (Benokraitis 152). The partners, therefore, stay together for long
because they depend on each other.
In conclusion, there is no ideal marriage. Even though love marriages have become the
dominant form of marriages in many modern societies, they too have major weaknesses.
Compared to traditional economic marriages, they are less stable in the long term.

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Works Cited

Akhtar, Nasreen, et al. “Interpersonal Problems in Arranged and Love Marriages.” Pakistan
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 15.2 (2017): 18-22.
Benokraitis, Nijole Vaicaitis. Marriages and families: Changes, choices, and constraints. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014.