[Kooy's explanation of the drop in the marriage age in the Netherlands between 1958 and 1968].

Abstract

A critique of an article by G. A. Kooy on reasons for the declining age at marriage in the Netherlands is presented. The author argues first "that a normative change does not in itself constitute the cause of a behavioural change: both changes ought to be related to a common determinant; second, that patrism and matrism, being two alternative ways of managing an Oedipal tension, do not constitute a social process and hence cannot explain social change." (summary in ENG)