I’m not sure this is correct. That is to say, the empirical point that divorce is much less common in arranged marriage cultures is obviously true. But
a) I think there is some correlation between prevalence arranged marriage and stigma associated with divorce, meaning that not getting divorced does not necessarily equal happy marriage.
b) The bar for success in 20th-21st century western marriages is set really high. It’s not just an economic arrangement; people want a best friend and a passionate lover and maybe several other things rolled into one. When people in traditional cultures say that their marriages are “happy,” they may well mean something much less than what affluent westerners would consider satisfactory.
I’m not sure this is correct. That is to say, the empirical point that divorce is much less common in arranged marriage cultures is obviously true. But
a) I think there is some correlation between prevalence arranged marriage and stigma associated with divorce, meaning that not getting divorced does not necessarily equal happy marriage.
b) The bar for success in 20th-21st century western marriages is set really high. It’s not just an economic arrangement; people want a best friend and a passionate lover and maybe several other things rolled into one. When people in traditional cultures say that their marriages are “happy,” they may well mean something much less than what affluent westerners would consider satisfactory.