How have cultural and economic factors influenced the dating world? In Beth Bailey’s book From Front Porch to Back Seat, Bailey discusses the “private” world of dating, and its public influences. Additionally, she discusses how dating trends have shifted throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as a result of these factors. These factors have reached beyond the dating shifts that Bailey discusses, and have influenced current dating trends as well. In the early 1900s, the idea of dating was an unfamiliar concept among the upper classes. The upper classes primarily engaged in the Calling system. Bailey explains the Calling process as follows: “When a girl reached the proper age...she became eligible to receive male callers.
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This movement focused on the idea of the independent, educated “New Woman.” The percentage of women involved in non-agricultural careers jumped from 6.4% in 1870 to 13.3% in 1920. The New Woman was likely a member of the upper classes—her family was able to afford a college education. Consequently, the flocking of upper-class women to universities caused the dating culture to expand greatly on campuses across the country. The dating culture turned into a system called “Rating and Dating,” in which women would go on dates with young men strictly for reasons of popularity and attention. Bailey says, “The concept of dating value had nothing to do with the interpersonal experience of a date—whether or not the boy (or girl, for that matter) was fun or charming or brilliant was irrelevant” (29). Young people did not go on dates in order to genuinely meet people and develop relationships with them. The more dates men and women went on, the more popular they became in this dating world. It seems that these changes occurred because women were more empowered at this point. They were comfortable with engaging with the opposite sex outside of the family’s home. By going out on several casual dates, this generation rebelled against the strict courtship culture created by the generations before them. Since Rating and Dating was mostly a practice done by college students whose families could afford to pay high tuition, it is likely that this was largely an upper-class practice. Additionally, the fact that the man always paid for the dates, may point to possible affluency. Assuming that most men would try to go on more than one date each week, they were spending a significant amount of money each year on dates. These changes in the dating world, along with cultural and economic factors played a
This movement focused on the idea of the independent, educated “New Woman.” The percentage of women involved in non-agricultural careers jumped from 6.4% in 1870 to 13.3% in 1920. The New Woman was likely a member of the upper classes—her family was able to afford a college education. Consequently, the flocking of upper-class women to universities caused the dating culture to expand greatly on campuses across the country. The dating culture turned into a system called “Rating and Dating,” in which women would go on dates with young men strictly for reasons of popularity and attention. Bailey says, “The concept of dating value had nothing to do with the interpersonal experience of a date—whether or not the boy (or girl, for that matter) was fun or charming or brilliant was irrelevant” (29). Young people did not go on dates in order to genuinely meet people and develop relationships with them. The more dates men and women went on, the more popular they became in this dating world. It seems that these changes occurred because women were more empowered at this point. They were comfortable with engaging with the opposite sex outside of the family’s home. By going out on several casual dates, this generation rebelled against the strict courtship culture created by the generations before them. Since Rating and Dating was mostly a practice done by college students whose families could afford to pay high tuition, it is likely that this was largely an upper-class practice. Additionally, the fact that the man always paid for the dates, may point to possible affluency. Assuming that most men would try to go on more than one date each week, they were spending a significant amount of money each year on dates. These changes in the dating world, along with cultural and economic factors played a