COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE,

by FrancisE. Merrill '26. William Sloane Associates,1949, 360PP. $1.75.

The fundamental thesis of this book can be best expressed in the words of the author: 'The major premise is that courtship and marriage are social relationships, with their most significant characteristics determined by their place in American society." Due to the unique configuration of the factors that made our society what it is, the cult of romance came to play a dominant part in the approach to marriage, and even within marriage itself. This socially expected behavior of individuals in their pre-marital actions, often referred to as the romantic complex, constitutes an underlying motif in the discussions of the first part of the, book.

But even as courtship follows the culturally defined ways of so the behavior patterns of individuals in marriage are the embodiments of the social expectations of the group. These socially expected ways are the roles. Following this consistently, the author assesses the economic, the biological, the prenatal, the parental, the affectional and the conjugal roles. With equal logical consistency, he views marital breakdown as arising from the interference with or the frustration of the roles. The efforts to prevent marital disorganization should then take the form of strengthening the roles of the participants.

This organizational principle, rigidly adhered to, is the major contribution this book makes to the growing literature on courtship and marriage. While the amount of new material herein is meager, that which is employed is used wisely. The discussion of dating as a unique American phenomenon with its "aim-inhibited" behavior places this subject in better perspective than has hitherto been done. The incorporation of some of the results of the Kinsey study throws a bright light on certain aspects of collective behavior previously ignored or misunderstood. Such new insights do but serve to underscore the need for the increasing concentration of social attention on the importance of additional research investigations in the field of courtship and marriage.