Research Paper About Cultural Differences In Dating And Courtship

Dating and Courtship
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CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN DATING AND COURTSHIP
Background
Relationships have been part and parcel of human culture from antiquity. There is basically little to no instance where mankind has been depicted as being all alone in the vast planet. The building and sustenance of these bonds between people, is what makes life worth it, and makes the human race to survive through the ages. As a result, there is a close interrelationship and intertwining between relationships and culture. Actually, one seems to be a contributor for the other, and both are therefore complimentary. Culture is a distinguishing characteristic of people living in different regions around the world. In the current world, relationships are mostly defined by friendships, love affairs and marriages. When it comes to romantic relationships, the terms used are dating and courtship. This paper discusses the cultural differences and variations or dynamics, as it relates to dating and courtship, through a combination of facts based on historical and current trends.
Culture determines most aspects of human social life, including dating and courtship (Campos and Belinda, 2017).Cultures are composed of people's attitudes, beliefs, and customs. The difference in people's opinions, customs and belief is what defines cultural differences in the world. Culture is conserved in the society because it is generationally passed from the older people to the young people. Culture is passed through art, language, rituals, material objects-especially the traditional materials, and specific institutions meant to conserve a people’s tradition.
Opposite sex in the ordinary sense begins relationship through dating and courtship. Dating is part of an existing or developing romantic relationship between man and woman; it is a stage where two individual meet and take time to assess one another with the aim of marriage or permanent relationship. During dating the couples do certain social activities together, this makes them learn each other better by knowing what their potential partners like and hate. The actions the two people do are meant to attract each other and finally make each other make a sound decision on the existence of the relationship (Jackson et al., 2017).
During dating, the activities undertaken by the parties in the relationship are like symbols to be read by the other person; therefore the symbols can only be used by people of similar cultural practices. Courtship is a stage in a relationship between two people that leads to marriage or engagement. Courtship occurs after dating phase in a relationship. During courtship, the couple decides whether there will be an engagement or a wedding. Courtship can be private or public depending on the couple's agreements.
Research on how culture affects relationships have widely been investigated by psychologists. The results from the research work so far done has shown that cultural practices amongst different people influences how people start, keep and terminate their relationships (Hashimoto et al., 2012). Culture achieves these effects in relationships because it dictates how individuals reason, feel and conduct themselves in a relationship and also, how people forecast others to reason, feel and conduct themselves in the relationship (Campos and Kim, 2012). The feeling, reasoning, and conduct that culture exerts on people determine how dating and courtship vary amongst people of different cultures.
A relationship is a significant concern for people of different cultures in the society. Research has shown that people perceive dating and courtship differently depending on their cultures, from their cultures, people have different definitions of courtship and dating, how to manage courtship and dating and how to determine a fruitful dating and courtship processes (Campos and Kim, 2012).
In most cultures its men who initiate relationships, dating, and courting. The primary work of women is to react to the advances, either negatively or positively (Lamont, 2017). It’s the responsibility of men to terminate or establish a relationship. The role of men and women in a relationship stems from the different needs men and women have in the relationships.
Historical facts
Psychologists have broadly studied dating and courtship in America since 1930; the study has revealed the evolution of dating and courtship to date (Jackson et al., 2017).
The historical account below, concerning dating and courtship, in this article, is according to the work of Jackson and coworkers, 2017.
Dating has mostly been witnessed amongst the young group. The dating style began in the 1920s and was primarily seen in the white-middle class group of the Americans. During the 1920s, African Americans did not have a well-established dating system; the opposite sexes of the African Americans got into relationships without age limit considerations. The African Americans leaving in the urban centers were getting married at their youthful age and any other age as long as a partner was found. Since the 1920s, dating patterns in the U.S have witnessed a remarkable change amongst the racial groups. In the mid-1960s and into 1970s, dating changed since the adolescents began spending most of their time with their peers, this made formal dating less significant in the U.S. During this time the dating patterns of the African Americans became almost similar because of desegregation in the U.S; desegregation facilitated c...