There are exceptions, and stories people tell, but GP is correct about the broad picture (in my understanding of the data). The west was unusual, and we have tended to misunderstand its past by looking at the more recent past of other societies.

> parents send/sent their children to social occasions

Absolutely people try to position their kids into the best social class they can. And still do, this is 90% of what parents house-shopping for "good schools" are doing, not to mention the great college admissions game. But this is not the same thing as an arranged marriage culture.