That's the book that identifies nine socioeconomic classes in American culture and a tenth "outsider" class that has members from all economic strata? If so, a) I'm a little embarrassed at having forgotten that he mentioned this, since I read it after I'd come up with these memes, and b) I'd love to see an updated edition that looks at whether/how class structure here has changed since he wrote it.
The excluding-nearly-all-others because of being "pretty infatuated with each other" is often a temporary effect, as NRE is for just-started-dating couples (one hopes that the intensity of the bond doesn't diminish, but the ability to start looking at the rest of the world usually reappears after a while). I'm thinking of the longer-term effect, where the married couple winds up reestablishing connections with other couples but not so much with their single friends.
One thing I hadn't thought of is the possibility that "couples associate with couples" is an effect, rather than a fundamental defining characteristic, of homosocial groups. It makes sense that in a heterosocial setting, single friends are more likely to already be friends with both members of a couple than in a homosocial setting where a single friend is only going to be close friends with the same-sex member of the couple, and it's plausible that this would explain "couples with couples" based on your observation that if you're only close to one member of a couple, dealing with both at once can be a funny dynamic.
(no subject)
The excluding-nearly-all-others because of being "pretty infatuated with each other" is often a temporary effect, as NRE is for just-started-dating couples (one hopes that the intensity of the bond doesn't diminish, but the ability to start looking at the rest of the world usually reappears after a while). I'm thinking of the longer-term effect, where the married couple winds up reestablishing connections with other couples but not so much with their single friends.
One thing I hadn't thought of is the possibility that "couples associate with couples" is an effect, rather than a fundamental defining characteristic, of homosocial groups. It makes sense that in a heterosocial setting, single friends are more likely to already be friends with both members of a couple than in a homosocial setting where a single friend is only going to be close friends with the same-sex member of the couple, and it's plausible that this would explain "couples with couples" based on your observation that if you're only close to one member of a couple, dealing with both at once can be a funny dynamic.
Need More Data!