Courtship And Sociological Concepts

Love, a magical word that defines the Worlds relationship with everything in it. But how is love found by those looking to be caught in its web of ecstasy? The answer, courtship. So how does courtship work? Is it when two people who are romantically interested in each other go out on a few dates and fall in love? Well, maybe when my parents were growing up. These days with the rise of technology courtship has drastically changed. According to the Pew Research Center, one in every 10 American adults has used an online dating site or a mobile dating app. This statistic is just one of many that shows courtship is no longer about finding the “right partner” it’s about having the options of “many partners”. The other day I watched a short video of Actor/Comedian Aziz Ansari being interviewed on a television talk show, and in just one minute and forty-two seconds Ansari poetically explained the new way of communication that has changed the way relationships are viewed in society today. As a single, millennial, female, at times it does feel like I am a “secretary for a spotty organization with the flakiest people ever”; as Ansari stated in the video clip. Which, by the way is really funny. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. But it also makes me say that someone has finally found a way to articulate how impersonal we as a society have become. Being that this video was made in 2013 everything around this time deals with Tinder, dating websites, and instant messaging: making face to face communication outdated. In a day and age where “swiping left or right” determines relationships and follower counts are more important than actual friendships, I understand the frustration with dating in our present day. Dating in my opinion is kind of the worst. Most of the time it’s based on how well people sell themselves on social media. People fall in love with Avatar’s and never get to meet an actual person. The New York Times reported in the article “The End of Courtship?”, “With texting, e-mail, Twitter, or other forms of ‘asynchronous communication’ in the context of dating, it removes much of the need for charm; it’s more like dropping a line in the water and hoping for a nibble.” I would completely agree with this statement because since everything is done through an online medium there is no need to meet anyone in a personal setting such as a coffee shop anymore; which may be a reason our cultural views on dating differ so greatly with those of older generations. Dating has never been seen as a difficult concept except for the millennial generation. Per Elite Daily.com “A recent Gallup survey showed 64 percent of millennials reported being single in 2014. That number is up 12 percent from 2004”. This is eye opening to the cultural shift that has happened in America because romance it seems has dwindled away with the addition of social media and easier access to people thousands of miles away via dating sites. Some social constructions alluded to in this skit deal with technology and the constructed …show more content…
For Functionalist, their concept is that to keep the society in equilibrium and running smoothly, people must adopt the norms and values of the times. I can relate this to Aziz Ansari because in this new culture one must just go with the flow when it comes finding “the one” in a sea of “many”. Also, according to their theory since the majority of online daters have success in finding a life partner one would be wise to follow suit and adapt to this new way of romance. Working alongside Functionalist is the Symbolic Interactionalist; their concept focuses on the idea that people develop their sense of self by incorporating how others interpret their behavior. The symbols we encounter, such as other people’s interpretation of our behavior, help shape who we are and what we become. This is where the interactional sociology comes into play and describes what happens when emphasis is placed on the individuals more so than group memberships. During texting and online communication this is all too common considering the era of emoji’s has arrived and you don’t have to type out words to pass on a message of interested or