rating and dating

In October 1937 the sociologist Willard Waller published “The Rating and Dating Complex” (opens in a new window) in the American Sociological Review. An encyclopedia entry on his work (opens in a new window) summarizes the argument: courtship took place in “a distributive order of prestige where people at the top of the order have advantages over those who rate poorly,” and the arrangement “produces courtship bargaining and, when individuals of unequal prestige are involved, exploitation.” The study was made at Penn State College, where, by one account of it (opens in a new window), students were ranked by themselves and their peers on “having money and good clothes, belonging to the best sorority or fraternity, and dating the ‘right’ people.”

The finding has since been audited. In 1981 a journal published “Was Waller Ever Right?” (opens in a new window), and later researchers questioned whether the pattern was as widespread as he implied. The apps rebuilt it anyway, without the campus. Tinder’s account of its own matching, first posted in 2019, calls its internal Elo score “old news” (opens in a new window) and “an outdated measure”, and explains that it now recommends profiles partly by how often each one, and every profile in its area, is Liked or Noped.

Under load, the complex turns each evening out into a trade conducted in front of an audience. The 2 parties are each other’s merchandise and each other’s witnesses. A person seen with a highly placed companion gains standing, and the companion, by the same arithmetic, gives some up, so the evening that goes best for one side is booked as a markdown on the other. Waller named the market 89 years ago. In 1937 the score was kept by the campus, where anyone could read it. The apps keep it privately, so each participant knows only that one exists.