Chapter 6, Scientific Truth ... and Love Summary and Analysis

Bailey has examined six themes of courtship. They are control, competition, consumption, the sexual economy, etiquette, and gender. All arose from sweeping social forces that came from modernization. These forces were not checked but produced. The changes were often led by academic experts who came to wield great cultural authority. The roles of these figures must be examined.

A University of Chicago sociologist was one of the most important members of the marriage-education movement in 1952. He argued that the changes in American attitudes towards marriage after World War I were the consequence of technological and associated social changes. Families were once safe and embedded in kinship relations, church, and community. Many agreed that traditional morality and marriage was under threat. Burgess advocated planning by the intellectuals to map new possibilities. Experts could school...