Julia Carter Julia.Carter@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology
Romantic suffering and morality: Love for Illouz
Carter, Julia; Smith, Daniel
Authors
Daniel Smith
Contributors
Emiliano Bevilacqua
Editor
Mariano Longo
Editor
Michael Hviid Jacobsen
Editor
Abstract
In the sociology of love and romance, love often serves as either a source of salvation or damnation for modern individuals, prompting sociologists to scrutinise society’s moral fabric. Late twentieth-century theorists of individualisation like Bauman, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim and Giddens diagnosed a decline in morality, an erosion of moral centres and the personalisation of moral norms, resulting in fragile and contingent bonds. However, these influential theories have been critiqued for their limited applicability to contemporary love relationships.
Eva Illouz’s sociology of love engages with theories of individualisation while historicising the discourse and addressing ongoing gender inequalities. Illouz argues that suffering characterises modern love, attributing this to the loss of moral communities and the rise of individual reflection in decision-making. This chapter outlines Illouz’s key contributions to the social theory of love and intimacy, exploring her connections with individualisation theorists and offering new insights into phenomena like commitment phobia, moral communities and the dynamics of choice.
Additionally, the chapter situates Illouz’s theory within a tradition of cultural criticism and pessimism, drawing comparisons with Simmel. Morality emerges as a central theme in Illouz’s and others’ contemporary constructions of romantic relationships, echoing writers like Seebach who argue that love can embody morality through the recognition and appreciation of the unique other, transcending mere possession.
Online Publication Date | Nov 27, 2024 |
---|---|
Publication Date | Nov 27, 2024 |
Deposit Date | Jan 7, 2025 |
Pages | 254-264 |
Book Title | Love and Sexuality in Social Theory |
Chapter Number | 15 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003396932 |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13595051 |
You might also like
Practices and perceptions of living apart together
(2014)
Journal Article
The sociology of love
(2015)
Journal Article
White weddings and the reproduction of white femininity
(2018)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About UWE Bristol Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@uwe.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search