Paths to Marriage (Family Studies Text series)
How do people come to make what is probably one of the most important decisions of their lives -- whom to marry? In this concise summary of previous research, Murstein traces the history of marriage, looking back to the age when it was set by contract between families. Paths to Marriage (Family Studies Text series) He then examines the socio-cultural determinants and demographics of contemporary marital choice, courtship, engagement and cohabitation.Murstein goes on to describe and compare the major theories of marital choice, clearly stating the strengths and weaknesses of Freud's psychoanalytic theory, Winch's complementary needs theory, Center's instrumental theory, Kerckhoff and Davis' filter theory and his own stimulus-value role theory.Although it presents the results of current sociological and psychological research on this topic, Paths to Marriage does not require a knowledge of statistics. As such it is an ideal undergraduate text.
