The time at which Jane Austen wrote this novel it was a changing country with multiple aspects of it's the cultural, social, and political environment.
Around the time of the 18th century, Marriage was not how we view it today. Although arranged marriages without reference to the feelings of the bride or groom, were common in the past, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, they were becoming less common. But without a doubt, it was still an issue of large sums of money and extensive estates (Hibbert 391). In the cultural milieu of their day, marriage was a binding contract for life, always performed by a priest, often at the instructions of the parents. Divorce was extremely rare and difficult to attain, so this commitment was not a decision to be taken lightly or to be given for a child to make (Hart 29). Women could only accomplish a goal of class through marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet is an arranger of her daughter's marriages. At least that's what job she attained. At the very beginning of the novel, after hearing of the arrival of a wealthy bachelor, she begs her husband to meet this man and to get acquainted so she may introduce her daughters to him. This act is not uncommon for their day. To want your daughters married to accomplished men was something, though not as strong today, most parents wanted. So for Mr. Darcy to believe in the dignity of his lineage, and for Miss. Bingley to dislike anyone not as socially accepted as she, was something we would have seen in Austen's time as well. Class and rank was a trait, back then, that had everything to do with marriage.
The social milieu of this portrayed England was rooted in family connections and wealth as well. Austen depicts a society in which social mobility is limited and class-consciousness is strong. We saw more of the social life of rural England for the Bennets, than we did of their daily lives.