With the advent of the industrial age in the 19th century, people’s finances were no longer tied to lands and their families. Financial independence meant they didn’t have to rely on family assets and inheritance for economic security, thus breaking the link between economics and marriage.
What emerged from this new reality was a focus on individual rights and the importance of personal happiness. e an exercise of personal rights and the pathway to romantic bliss. A key development in the history of romance.
Somewhere in the 1960s, a shift in social values led to the age of free love in the 1970s
When the 20th century rolled around, the social landscape changed dramatically. Women were entering the workforce, and the suffrage movement was picking up steam.
More and more people were financially independent, and emotions become more valued and appreciated. People were marrying for love, but pockets of aristocratic circles (and other cultural communities) still practiced arranged marriages.
Business persons began to see a viable opportunity to capitalize on this growing appetite for romance. They used it to churn out Hollywood movies and pop music, marketing it to audiences hungry for fantasy.
It was a welcome escape from the drudgery of everyday life and the harsh realities of the Great Depression and, later, World War II. “Happily ever after” was an easy sell because people wanted to believe in it – they needed hope in a time of turbulence and uncertainty.
After World War II, the ’50s and ’60s saw an upsurge in novels, movies, and songs that pushed the narrative of romantic love into the mainstream. The dopamine kick kept people going as they lived in real relationships that didn’t always singaporean fru offer the highs they wanted. Read more