How do ideas about love and marriage differ between extended-family and nuclear-family societies?

Ideas about love and marriage vary significantly depending on whether a society is organized around the extended family or the nuclear family.

In societies where the extended family is the basic unit, marriages are typically arranged by family members. In this context, the assumption is that love between partners develops after the marriage, and primary consideration is given to the socioeconomic advantages the match provides to the larger family group.1

By contrast, in societies where the nuclear family predominates, young adults generally choose their own mates. In these cultures, it is assumed that love precedes and determines the decision to marry, with relatively less emphasis placed on the socioeconomic aspects of the union. While the stability of the nuclear-focused conjugal family relies heavily on the quality of the personal relationship between the husband and wife, the stability of extended-family structures—often organized around lineage—is derived from the group's corporate nature and its focus on perpetuating the family line.12