SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PLEASE FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS AND ANSWER EITHER a OR B. AND ANSWER C...YOU WILL ANSWER a TOTAL OF TWO QUESTIONS: 1. Answer AB.A. Asian, Hispanic, White American, Black American students tend agree makes attractive female face. Social psychology

Arranged marriage seems fundamentally anathema to the American culture of individualism and choice. Historically, in Western culture, the ideal of romantic love has emphasized passion and personal autonomy. In Romeo and Juliet, the 'bad' parents try to push Juliet into an arranged marriage vs. her desired match with her true love Romeo. However, the Indian writer Shoba Narayan states that our belief in star-crossed love may be a cultural illusion. She points to her own, modern arranged marriage with a man with whom she has an equal partnership and her failed attempts at traditional American courtship. Narayan points out cultures with high rates of arranged marriages have low divorce rates -- although it is worth noting that these more traditional cultures likely frown upon divorce and make it more difficult for women to extricate themselves out of 'bad' marriages.

Narayan states that her marriage is happy, like her parent's, which was also an arranged marriage. But Narayan, despite her American education, grew up in a culture where this arrangement was common. She states that sustaining relationships in non-arranged situations was difficult, but she also admits that none of these relationships were with Indian men. The success of her relationship with her husband might have more to do with the fact that she shared a common cultural background with him, versus her previous boyfriends, rather than the fact that the marriage was arranged.

Narayan's experience is a very benign version of arranged marriage. She was educated, she entered into the agreement willingly, and her partner-to-be was free-minded and grew up in a household of strong women. What of an underage, uneducated girl from a poor, rural family bullied into an arranged marriage by...

In fact, Narayan's marriage hardly seems 'arranged' at all. The parents of the couple staged a meeting; she met Ram's mother and father. Then, Narayan and Ram communicated independently afterward. They were not under the careful watch of their parents, and Ram's proposal came because he was attracted to Shoba, not because his parents were forcing him to marry. In a truly 'arranged' marriage, couples had no say in the matter, and would meet only under supervised circumstances, perhaps first on their wedding night.
Narayan's arranged marriage is no different than being 'fixed up' on a date by a matchmaker -- or your mother. While the objections of her friends seem silly, so does her calling her match a traditional 'arranged marriage.' Parents have influence on Western couplings as well, it should be noted. The dislike of a future mother-in-law for a prospective son-in-law has broken up many couples! Narayan says that she did not love her husband before marrying him, but even within my own family I know of people who married because they felt 'time was running out' rather than the fact they felt passionate adoration for their partner. Yes, Narayan struggled during the first few years of her relationship -- but once again, may couples do, regardless of whether their marriage was 'arranged' or not.

Narayan's marriage may not have come about in a conventional, Western way, but it is not really an arranged marriage in the conventional sense. It is still characterized by a great deal of Western autonomy, freedom, and choice. But truly arranged marriages as are practiced in traditional societies without choice for the woman involved hold the potential for abuse which Narayan is not willing to acknowledge in her personal reflections about her middle class experiences.

2C. One of my best friendships…