When did 'dating' become the norm for finding a romantic partner? What led to the shift?

by magnesiummike

I've been wondering about the history of dating, courtship, and arranged marriages recently. I've heard people discuss these ways of finding a romantic partner as if they developed in sequence over time. I've also heard that we're exiting the time in which dating is the main way people get to know romantic partners. What do historians think about this?

AnacreonInHeaven

There's an excellent book about this: Beth Bailey's From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America