Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture - Sources and Summary

Introduction

The rapid growth of internet usage over the last two decades has been influencing many aspects of our life and most noticeably the ways in which people communicate with each other. Therefore, it is appropriate to ask whether the growth of internet usage influences individuals’ marital decisions in modern society. This study will concentrate on the effect of the growing internet usage on marriage.

Over the last two decades, the internet has become truly widespread, and there is no doubt that this new means of communication influence and profoundly changed many substantial aspects of our lives. Email usage became standard, online dating sites multiplies, social networks’ popularity has been spectacularly growing, all giving evidence of the of the noteworthy role that online communication plays in our lives nowadays and of the very different opportunities we have now as compared to the situation some twenty years ago.

 The young people are the most likely to exploit fully these opportunities, and there are several ways in which the means of online communication may make their life both easier and richer as compared to the generation of their parents. Easier from the point of view that search for a life partner does not have to be only in the real world, but might be countered on the internet. There are enough examples of happy couples that met for the first time on a social network, a discussion forum or other web platform, or who found each other directly through the services of an online dating site.

This shows just how these successfully formed partnerships have changed our lives in a way or another. The study, the effect of internet usage on marriage, would also help shed some light on the effect of the increasing internet usage on the divorce rate. There are certainly many aspects of marriage that internet usage can influence, but this study will concentrate mostly on the beginning of the marital process. It will particularly try to establish if the reduction of search costs, given by the fact that through the internet, more potential partners can be reached in a significantly shorter time, leads people to marry sooner or later.

I chose this study as way of trying to complement the already growing numbers of studies done on this topic both from a sociological an economic point of view. It will primarily be positioned within the economic stream of literature and by doing so; present an econometric approach that makes it possible to ascertain the effect of an increasing internet usage on individuals’ marital decisions.  To be able to achieve this using IT as leverage to provide answers to the various questions that arise sums up all the reasons as to why I settled for this topic.

Literature Review

The propagation of the internet and the consequent enrichment of the means of communication bring one of the biggest changes ever to the social interaction of people. Therefore, it is no surprise that a growing number of academic studies is aiming to describe and understand this phenomenon, presenting it under its various aspects and from different points of view.

Many papers, both in sociological and economic fields, that concentrate on the effect of the internet on the market for romantic partners have been done. Putnam (2000) argues that the expansion of modern communication technologies, like TV consumption or internet usage, results in the decline of social capital. In a nutshell, the author claims that the use of modern technologies crowds out social participation and hence, put into the marriage market perspective, one could argue that the decline in social participation would result in fewer marriages over time. However, empirical study by Bauernschuster, Falck, and Woessmann (2011) found no evidence that use of the internet reduces social capital but found a positive effect when the internet is used to purchase or reserve tickets for culture events. These findings thus support the view of the internet as an influential communication tool with a potential to influence our personal lives and our romantic relationships.

Various studies in sociology (Merkle and Richardson, 2000; Underwood and

Findlay, 2004; Young, Griffin-Shelley, Cooper, O’Mara, and Buchanan, 2000) compare what are called computer mediated relationships with face-to-face relationships.

All authors agree that as the access to the internet service increases, the number of computer mediated relationships grows as well. For what concerns the nature of these “online” relationships, in their study conducted on a sample of 75 adults, Underwood and Findlay (2004) stress especially the intimacy and the importance of the relationship perceived by the subjects of the study. Similar to these authors, Merkle and Richardson (2000) conclude that individuals often describe their online relationships as intimate and as authentic as face-to-face relationships.

While sociologists concentrate mainly on the individuals’ perception of online relationships and their comparison with face-to-face relationships to find what the effect of the internet is on the marriage market, economists regard the growing internet access mainly as a shock to the matching function. Stevenson and Wolfers (2007) see the internet as a shock expanding the pool of potential partners on the one hand but increasing the anonymity on the other hand. While the first effect may be of great importance for those looking for a partner, and it may foster the number and the quality of created matches, the increased anonymity may encourage those engaging in infidelity and contribute to increased match separation.

It may not yet be able to evaluate all aspects of this complex issue hence the importance to understand how the initial match formation is influenced by the growing usage of the internet, which is a question that has been somehow overlooked in the existing empirical literature. This study aims to fill this gap.

Research Methodology

This study is based on qualitative research methods. The research design will guided by Kothari (2004) as an exploratory / formulative research project. He defines the objective of exploratory research as the type of research done gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (Kothari, 2004). In this regard this study addresses the effect of internet usage on marriage.

The rationale of choosing an exploratory research design is because of its flexibility for the researcher to consider different aspects of the problem under study. The basic features an exploratory research project are highlighted in the table below.

Features of an exploratory research

Source: Kothari, 2004.

Regarding the components of an exploratory research design, Kothari (2004) explains that there are three research methods used, i.e. survey of concerning literature, the experience survey and analysis of insight stimulating examples.

Survey of concerning literature

This is a survey of the work done by others. For this study this entails a literature review of secondary data from varied sources. These sources are journals, books, articles, conference proceedings and pamphlets from international organizations like United Nations Agency International Telecommunication Union and World Institute for Development Economics Research. The Internet was used extensively for this study, the brochures and pamphlets are useful in providing current information on initiatives being undertaken by international organizations. Conference proceedings are important to give an indication of the ongoing debate in this area worldwide. The variety of material is intended to give a balanced and objective point of view.

The experience survey

This entails interviewing people who have had practical experience with the problem to be studied. This section covers primary data collection. This will be mainly done through personal interviews to gain a clear picture of the issue. To gain a deeper understanding of the problem and to allow as much flexibility as possible the interviews will be of an unstructured nature. For the people to be interviewed non-probability sampling will be used. This kind of sampling is also referred to as purposive or judgment sampling.

References

Bauernschuster, S., Falck, O., and Woessmann, L. (2011). Surfing Alone? The Internet and                         Social Capital: Evidence from an Unforeseeable Technological Mistake. SSRN                                                       eLibrary.

Kothari, C. (2004). Research Methodology: methods and techniques (2nd ed.). New Delhi: New                Age International

Merkle, E. R. and Richardson, R. A. (2000). Digital dating and virtual relating:

            Conceptualizing computer mediated romantic relationships. Family Relations,

            49(2):187–192.

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American

            Community. Simon & Schuster.

Stevenson, B. and Wolfers, J. (2007). Marriage and divorce: Changes and their

            Driving forces. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(2):27–52.