'Dateline' accepted manuscript CBH Durham.pdf (782.41 kB)
Computer dating in the 1970s: dateline and the making of the modern British single
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-21, 06:02 authored by Zoe StrimpelThe British matchmaking industry expanded sharply after 1970. This article focuses on the formative years of its most successful representative, the computer dating agency Dateline. Through attention to Dateline’s marketing in the late 1970s, I explore the ways in which new vocabularies of ‘scientific’ expertise were used to forge a ‘modern’ romantic sensibility. After setting Dateline’s success in the context social–sexual change, I explore its two main claims to authority—the computer and the empirical insights of psychology—suggesting that the invitation to embrace but also to control fate foreshadowed the pressures facing singles into the twenty-first century.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Contemporary British HistoryISSN
1361-9462Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
31Page range
319-342Department affiliated with
- History Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-03-02First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-08-24First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-03-02Usage metrics
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