Overview
- Tests claims of ‘cold intimacies’ in a variety of geopolitical and social contexts
- Presents alternative theoretical perspectives of romantic relationships
- Provides an ideal resource for anyone working on couple relationships, marriage and intimacy
Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life (PSFL)
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About this book
This book addresses the nature of intimacy and relationships in a time of what Eva Illouz characterizes as ‘cold intimacies’. The contributors to this collection highlight the ambivalence and tensions contained in ‘intimacy’ by uncovering a nuanced and complex dynamic, in which interpersonal relations and the public sphere are mutually constituted. A range of topics areexplored, including the new conditions of ‘choice’, the abundance of partners, class and emotional competence, rational decision-making and the specific forms of ‘love pain’ which can emerge from cooled intimacy. The chapters also shed light on the limits of this theoretical contribution, highlighting the importance of parenting, violence, poverty, and other material constraints that continue to limit and frame individuals’ romantic choices. Overall this volume presents an interpretation of intimacy that is not just ‘cold’ but includes practices, desires and feelings that are safe and dangerous, that bring solace or erupt in violence, that lead to salvation or condemnation, and where virtual encounters and increased internal and crossborder mobility have altered the relationship between intimacy and (physical/emotional) distance.
Romantic Relationships in a Time of ‘Cold Intimacies’ will be of interest to scholars and students across a range of disciplines, including sociology, social work, social policy and demography, as well as practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in couple relationships.
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Keywords
Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Sexual Abundance and Emotional Inequalities
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Women’s Exclusivist Strategies
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From Romantic Fantasy to Disappointment
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Lorena Arocha is Lecturer in Contemporary Slavery (Criminology), University of Hull, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Romantic Relationships in a Time of ‘Cold Intimacies’
Editors: Julia Carter, Lorena Arocha
Series Title: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29256-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-29255-3Published: 18 November 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-29258-4Published: 18 November 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-29256-0Published: 31 October 2019
Series ISSN: 2731-6440
Series E-ISSN: 2731-6459
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 313
Topics: Sociology of Family, Youth and Aging, Gender Studies, Social Structure, Social Inequality