The Story of How Love Conquered Marriage

Love and marriage have, for centuries, been separate realms of human existence. Love was for aesthetic exploration, observational enjoyment, and entertainment, while marriage was the condition of social life. Kings, queens, and aristocracies of the past could sometimes afford to … Continue reading

The Changing Views on Divorce in Pakistan

For generations, Pakistani families and marriages have been endogamous. Their parents or other family elders arranged their children’s marriages. These were the “arranged marriages.” Currently, marriage is still a family affair in Pakistan. Despite modernization, arranged marriages are still widespread. … Continue reading

Love in Modern Arranged Marriages in Pakistan

Traditional marriages in Pakistan were formed through arranged marriages. Most of them were endogamous marriages, when parents or other senior family members arranged marriages between the groom and the bride within the same extended family or community clan. Consanguineous marriages … Continue reading

Arranged Marriages in India

In traditional arranged marriages, the bride and the groom have limited possibilities in making their choice of whom to marry and how the wedding is planned. Other family members, religious leaders, community elders, or special matchmakers choose a good match … Continue reading

Societies Favorable to Intercultural Marriages

In the modern world of increased social mobility and mass migration, many countries have become very multicultural. Subsequently, new mixed cultures with blended communities have been developed in many regions. Some workplaces, public spaces, and residential areas have become spots … Continue reading

Intercultural Marriage Statistics in America

Due to increased mobility and immigration in recent decades, many countries have become more multicultural than ever before. Such migration has created new mixed and blended cultural communities in many regions. Intercultural encounters on a daily basis are becoming common … Continue reading

Cultural Features of Mangaian Romantic Love

Early anthropological studies portrayed the sexual culture of Polynesian love. Those studies downplayed the love and emotions of indigenous people in the South Seas. For example, the cultural anthropology of Mangaian love presented the freedom of sexual intimacy and love … Continue reading

Three Things Make Mangaian Love “Romantic”

How romantic is Mangaian love? Mangaians are the Polynesian people living in the Cook Islands in the South Seas. The early studies of Polynesian love misrepresented Polynesian heterosexual relationship culture as sexually energetic and sensually obsessive, along with free sexual attitudes … Continue reading

Romantic Love Can Be Good for Relationships

Romantic love elevates our relationship and makes it romantically beautiful. Nevertheless, romantic love can hide some perils of disenchantment and disappointment. This is why cultural attitudes toward romantic love differ over time and across cultures (Karandashev, 2017). What are the … Continue reading

The Pitfalls for Romantic Lovers

Romantic lovers have several main features that distinguish them from other types of lovers. As I noted in another place, romantic idealization is a core feature that makes love “romantic”, as opposed to “rational”, “practical”, and pragmatic.” Such idealization can … Continue reading