Marriage is an important part of an individual’s life and a solid social institution. It is deeply rooted in most people’s understanding that at some point in their life, they should get married; in the case of the conservative part of the population, married to someone of different sex and the same social status, however, as societies, especially the Western society, change, the understanding of marriage changes. The views are becoming more liberal than they were before.
In the nearest feature, the tendency for homogamous marriage will likely remain. Seccombe (2017) notices that despite the general liberation of the view on courtship and marriage, people “behave in relatively traditional ways” (p. 164). It is especially evident in dating patterns, where women still generally buy, does not eat much, and discuss the date with friends, while men pay for the date and escort the woman home (Seccombe, 2017). In her research on homogamy in US marriages, Carlson (2021) discovers that in more than 50% of marriages, partners have the same level of education; in 80-90%, they are of the same race or ethnicity, and in more than 60% they are of the same age. However, examples of heterogamous marriages are seen more and more often. The obvious example is the British royal family, namely the marriage of Megan Markle and Prince Harry. While the royal family did not support marriage, society, in general, did. Social class had become less important than it was a hundred years ago, for example, when the marriage of a prince to a commoner was simply unspeakable. Nevertheless, it is safe to suppose that the tendency of homogamous marriage will last for some time.
Social standards and institutions, especially regarding love and marriage, are fundamental for any society. However quick a social change might be, people are likely to keep to tradition for a long time before finally accepting changes. However, there is no reason to deny that societies in different parts of the world have changed significantly in the last century. It has become more liberal and accepting of same-sex marriages and marriages between people of different ethnicities or with a significant age gap.
References
Seccombe, K. (2017). Exploring marriages and families. Pearson.
Carlson, L. (2021). Homogamy in US Marriages, 2019. Family Profiles, FP-21, 6.