The following excerpt came from Mary Reige Laner 2000 "Courtship" (Pp. 483-90 in Encyclopedia ofSociology, edited by E. F. Borgatta and R. J. V. Montgomery. New York: Macmillan Reference USA).Please read carefully and answer the question (either in Chinese or in English) at the end of theexcerpt. Contemporary courtship, marked as it is by freedom of choice, has been likened to a market in which thebuyer must be wary and in which there is no necessary truth in advertising. Persons compete, given theirown assets, for the best marital "catch" or the most status-conferring date. Waller and Hill (1951) warnedabout the potential for exploitation in both casual and serious courtship and indeed, critics of conventionaldating have decried it as a sexist bargaining arrangement in which men are exploited for money and womenfor sexual favors. The superficiality of dating, its commercialization, the deceit involved (givencontradictory motives), and the high levels of anxiety provoked by fears of rejection (especially in men), areadditional drawbacks. Since status differentials still characterize the sexes, dating may also be seen as acontest in which a struggle for power and control between partners is part of the game. Thus, courtship'semphasis on individualism, freedom, commercialism, competitive spirit, and success reflects the largersocial system within which it functions. One may well ask whether such a system can prepare participantsfor marriage which, unlike courtship, requires cooperation and compromise for its successful survival.Efforts to predict who marries whom and why, to delineate the courtship process itself, or both, haveinterested a number of scholars. Based on a large body of theoretical and empirical work, Adams (1979)developed a propositional theory to explain how courtship moves from initial acquaintance toward (or awayfrom) marriage in an achievement- oriented society. The propositions, in slightly modified language, are asfollows:
【題組】1.Proximity, which facilitates contact, is a precondition for courtship and marriage.