The anthropological study of romantic (or passionate) love is virtually nonexistent due to the widespread belief that romantic love is unique to Euro-American culture. This belief is by no means confined to anthropology. The historian Philippe Aries (1962), for example, argues that affection was of secondary importance to more utilitarian ambitions throughout much of European history. Lawrence Stone (1988: 16) goes further, insisting that" if romantic love ever existed outside of Europe, it only arose among the nonwestern nation-states' elite who had the time to cultivate an aesthetic appreciation for subjective experiences." Underlying these Eurocentric views is the assumption that modernization and the rise of individualism are directly linked to the appearance of romantic notions of love.

The validity of an affectionless past is challenged by some historians who draw upon the insights of an earlier generation of anthropologists (eg, Lowie 1950; Westermark 1922) to argue that European preindustrial courtship was neither cold, aloof, nor devoid of affection (Gillis 1988; MacDonald 1981; MacFarlane 1987; Pollock 1983). However, much of this revisionist work continues to explain instances of romantic love as a basis for marriage, ignoring the role romantic love plays in affairs (see Stearns and Stearns 1985). Consequently, little has been done to alter the prevalent opinion that romantic love is a European contribution to