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EDWARD GROSSCOURTSHIP
Given the social centrality of the family institution
and the role of courtship in the family formation
process, it is not surprising that the study of court-
ship has received attention from several disci-
plines. Anthropologists have described practices
in primitive and other societies, historians have
traced courtship patterns in America from coloni-
al to contemporary times, psychologists and social
psychologists have examined intra- and interper-
sonal components of relationships, and sociolo-
gists have developed research-based theories ex-
plaining the process of mate selection, and have
investigated various courtships dynamics. Here,
some attention will be given to each of these
approaches, along the way selectively noting schol-
ars who have made major contributions.Historically, according to Rothman, the term
courtship applied to situations where the intention
to marry was explicit (if not formally—and mutual-
ly—stated). Courting was the broader term used to
describe socializing between unmarried men and
women’’ (Rothman 1984, p. 23, italics in original).Scholars have disagreed as to whether dat-
ing—a twentieth-century term for a primarily rec-
reational aspect of courting—should be consid-
ered a part of courtship since, according to Waller
(1938) and others, dating may be merely thrill-
seeking and exploitative, and not marriage orient-
ed (but see Gordon 1981 for an opposing view).
However, wooing (that is, seeking favor, affection,
love, or any of these) may be integral to courtship
and yet not result in marriage. For present purpos-
es, then, courtship will be understood in its broad-
est sense—as a continuum from casual to serious.
Thus, ‘‘the unattached flirt, the engaged college
seniors, the eighth-grade ‘steadies,’ and the mis-
matched couple on a blind date are all engaging in
courtship’’ (Bailey 1988, p. 6).Queen, Habenstein, and Quadagno’s (1985)
classic text provides much of the basis for the
following brief and highly generalized overview of
some mate-selection patterns unlike those found
in contemporary America. Some of these systems
involved little or no courtship. For example, among
the ancient Chinese, Hebrews, and Romans, mar-
riage was arranged by male heads of kin groups.
Among the ancient Greeks and until recently among
the Chinese, many brides and grooms did not
meet until their wedding day. Around the turn of
the century (1900), infant marriages were the rule
among the Toda of south India, and the bride was
deflowered at about age ten by a man who was not
of her clan and not her husband. In medieval
England, contrary to the literature of chivalry, love