The historic parallels of Industrial commerce and the Romantic era are important. Of greater importance to the issue of love, is that the ‘authenticity’ characteristic of commerce has allowed ‘love’ and many other emotions to flourish, for the first time, in history.
How do we know? We have most of the world to examine, where modernity is only superficial, and tribal life is the reality. The difference between our modern world and the rest of the planet is significant. ‘Love’ is only a small part of the difference.
The elements of commerce that come together to create, or rather, ‘permit’ authenticity are meritocracy and diversity. Both meritocracy and diversity exist only in a world where individuals thrive. In most of the world, the family, clan or tribe are the dominant daily concerns. Each person has a role to play, usually a standardized role. In an Arab, Chinese, African or Latin business, (even in Italy and Greece) your first cousin becomes the business accountant or head of marketing; they get the job because they are family and have modest inclinations in that direction.
In a commercial world meritocracy dominates. The head accountant or head of marketing is the person most qualified for that job, regardless of social ties or ethnic similarities to the person doing the hiring (diversity). In the commercial world the individual stands on his own.
It is that focus on the primacy of the individual and that person’s talents that permit the emergence of ‘authenticity’. Each individual in the commercial world has hundreds, thousands, of opportunities to make use of their talents in the marketplace. Only in the commercial world, not in government, not in the military and not in the tribal world.
Those talents can comprise the ability to feel and express emotions; commercialized in theatrical and cinematic fields; the ability to move in expressive ways for dance, martial arts and somatic training. All these developments of individual authenticity, or nearly all, are welcomed and utilized in the commercial world.
That is where ‘love’ comes in.
* First, because most forms of passion can be utilized and rewarded in a commercial society, the society can let passion be developed and made public.
* Second, since family, clan and tribe do not play a role in the marketplace, passion that develops between pairs of people is not a serious threat to the commercial world. Love is one of those non-threatening passions.