how many dating problems (specially for men) would dissapear if the economy was great or at least decent enought?

Feeling_Ad_1034 · 2026-01-14T01:58:11+00:00

TLDR: MOST (if not ALL) will continue to get harder for 80% of men.

Elimination of economic hardship has caused MASSIVE structural changes in dating.

Material conditions for most people have improved dramatically over the last 150 years, yet dating outcomes (for a large share of men) have arguably become more unequal, not less. For most of human history, pair-bonding wasn’t primarily about preference or attraction; it was about survival. Economic dependence, limited mobility, and social norms meant most women paired with men they needed, not necessarily men they most desired.

As society modernized, several things happened in sequence:

Women gained reliable birth control, education, and independent income
The economic necessity of partnering with a man declined
Technology (especially dating apps) massively expanded choice

Those changes are broadly positive... but they fundamentally altered mating dynamics.

When choice becomes nearly frictionless, outcomes stop looking like “most people pair off” and start looking more like winner-take-most markets. A relatively small subset of highly desirable men receive a disproportionate amount of romantic and sexual attention, while a large share of men receive very little. This isn’t because society is worse... it’s because constraints were removed.

An analogy I find useful is healthcare: for most of history, people didn’t debate how to distribute healthcare fairly because it barely existed. Once healthcare becomes abundant and effective, "should something that hasn't existed until very recently be made free for everyone?" becomes the central question. Dating works similarly: Once survival is decoupled from partnership, selection criteria shift.

So to the original question: a stronger economy would likely reduce stress and resentment, but it wouldn’t reverse these underlying dynamics. The rise of redpill, blackpill, or pinkpill rhetoric seems less about temporary economic conditions and more about people struggling to psychologically adapt to a world where attraction is optional, asymmetrical, and highly visible.

Women today largely choose partners they want, not partners they need. That’s a major social shift... and one that inevitably produces winners, losers, and a lot of ideological coping on all sides.

World-Three · 2026-01-14T02:21:47+00:00

I don't think it would make it that much better. Think about it like this, some women have made it perfectly clear that their liberties have emancipated them from men.

I'd imagine there are a few stragglers who feel they aren't making quite enough to shed the robes of tradition. But if they did, they would.

Think about a lot of discourse towards men that is led by: We don't need you. So I do still feel like we're running a race backwards and it feels like a normal race only because we never did it the right way to begin with.

If we valued each other first, money would be an obstacle and not a disqualifier. As long as money remains a disqualifier, we are admitting that it is more important than the person. By that admission, when money is aquired, what makes THAT PERSON, so significant that they'd be chosen over anyone else?

Just because we make a fancy container for the shit to go in, doesn't make the shit go away.

caption291 · 2026-01-14T04:33:06+00:00

Poor people today have access to a better quality of life than rich people did 1000 years ago.

The economy getting better very clearly makes these social problems worse not better. People just use "the economy" as a scapegoat because tackling the root causes of these problems is uncomfortable and incompatible with a lot of modern luxury beliefs.

Obvious_Smoke3633 · 2026-01-14T11:27:34+00:00

I think the economic factor is kind of a red herring. There are some women, mostly who want to be SAHMs who would get married and have kids if the economy was better. On the flip side, I think a big division in dating now isn't financial, it's emotional. I'd personally go 50/50 with a guy who cooks, cleans, plans dates, and is emotionally intelligent and kind. I've resorted to not being a 50/50 girlie because of the lack of the other traits. Money won't fix the emotional divide. Most women want a partner who treats them like a friend. Men typically want a woman who performs a lot of service for him so he can "work" which women already do as well. If the economy gets better, without men developing emotionally, women would have even less need for men, because women would be making more money as well. Men need to offer more than money.

Logos1789 · 2026-01-14T01:29:20+00:00

It’s difficult to say, because we quite frankly have never had a solid middle class since the proliferation of hookup and dating apps.

In general, I’m sure it would help some women to be sufficiently desirous of sex and relationships with men they currently aren’t…

However, I think at this point, the bar would just rise even more for men. This is the same reason why being 5’9” today (average height) is below what most women prefer, despite it being tall in generations past.

NiaMiaBia · 2026-01-14T01:47:58+00:00

It’s hard to say, but I do think that improving your quality of life will have positive impacts overall.

I know I’ll get pushback, but I really wish we had universal basic income, free health insurance, mental health services, guaranteed parental leave, etc.

Capitalism or whatever TF this is, is inherently bad for humans, IMO.

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Solondthewookiee · 2026-01-14T06:33:12+00:00

I think red pill would have less of a foothold because young men would be less disaffected overall, but dating wise not much would really change. The biggest change is women gaining increasing economic independence, which means they aren't reliant on men for survival and are therefore far less likely to tolerate a bad relationship.

Capital_Capsicum · 2026-01-15T06:55:14+00:00

It's hard to say, because it's so different to the life we have now.

On one hand, we have more than we have before in material wealth. But we're also way poorer in time and mental health. The cost of living is way too high, and I'm certain women still look for someone to support them when considering a partner.

If we had more time, less stress, more disposable income, things would be easier in general.

Now the question is, would that make dating easier in general? For some, yes. If your problem is you're too poor to be attractive, then it would help. If not, I'm not sure. If you have more time, you can use that time to learn hobbies, better yourself, and become a more interesting person. Kind of like how the economic drive in Star Trek, is for people to better themselves. Although that's way too simplistic.

I can imagine a scenario where it becomes so much worse. Think of a stereotypical group of bitchy trust fund kinds. A high school mentality through adult life. It could be argued that we will always look for ways to divide ourselves into hierarchies, winners, and losers.

Sonia314 · 2026-01-16T02:42:00+00:00

Real median income per person increased by 110% between 1963 and 2023 in the US, with a particularly large increase over the last decade. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-median-income?tab=line&country=~USA&mapSelect=~USA

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No_Teacher_3313 · 2026-01-14T01:35:33+00:00

I don’t see how it would help dating at all. In bad economic times people are more likely to stay or get together out of necessity, so it would affect relationships. But I don’t see it impacting dating much.

pwnkage · 2026-01-14T01:59:47+00:00

I personally believe that if people were mobile financially then that would help them make better choices.

If we look at the example of China, things got really good really quick, and women started earning money, owning houses, getting an education and a lot of them stopped looking for marriage, because that wasn’t their only option anymore in life. Some of them go overseas and become lesbians in more progressive countries. Chinese women and men have more choices than ever for love, marriage, etc.

I don’t actually believe that if people were less stressed they would pair pff and reproduce. I believe that pairing off and reproducing was always something forced upon us, and every time we see people getting more rights, they actually choose often to do something else with their lives. I don’t think we should improve the economy so that we have babies, I think we should improve things socially for the sake of it, because it the right thing to do. Babies or dating or marriage is incidental.

Debetrius180 · 2026-01-14T16:45:58+00:00

No I don’t think they’d go away, hate to be that guy who sounds cucked but men need to learn how to be in their feminine more and women need to be accepting of it. I don’t mean feminine as in being more submissive or flamboyant, but in all of us exists a polarity of feminine and masculine energy, jung explored this through the anima and animus, I believe men tend to swing in the extremes of these two “entities” that exist in us. Women have taken on more masculine roles in society, while still kind of expecting men to fulfill all of the traditional standards, which just doesn’t make much sense. I also believe that men are on aggregate underperforming, why that is, I’m not sure yet.

TLDR: there needs to cultural changes

Title	how many dating problems (specially for men) would dissapear if the economy was great or at least decent enought?
Author	Local-Willingness784
Upvotes	6
Comments	17
Date	January 13, 2026 2:00 AM UTC (7 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1qbekar/how_many_dating_problems_specially_for_men_would/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/how-many-dating-problems-specially-for-men-would.1571099 https://theredarchive.com/post/1571099

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