What is the theme in From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-century America by Beth L. Bailey?

The commodification of human relationships is another theme in the book. Bailey finds the dating system partly repulsive because she felt that it disrupted a more communal form of courtship that existed without major monetary exchanges. The call system involved suitors getting to know family members, associating with communities, and linking families together. With the rise of a national youth culture and pressure among the poor and immigrant communities to date, as they had no parlors in which to receive suitors, dating began to spread. Once upper classes appreciated the freedom that came with going out in pairs in public, the dating system spread.