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.
1.- Introduction; Julia Carter and Lorena Arocha.- Part I: The Great
Transformation of Love.- 2. Intimate Relationships and Choice in a time of
Cold Intimacies: Examining Illouz; Rachel Thwaites.- 3. Making up and
breaking up: The changing commitments of age-dissimilar couples; Lara
McKenzie.- 4. The transformation of love? Choice, emotional rationality and
wedding gifts; Julia Carter and Daniel Smith.- Part II: Sexual Abundance and
Emotional Inequalities.- 5. I would like to be better at it: a critical
engagement with Illouzs account of men and intimacy in romantic
relationships; Fiona McQueen and Sharani Osborne.- 6. Swipe right? Tinder,
commitment and the commercialization of intimate life; Jenny van Hooff.-
7. Dating in the age of Tinder: swiping for love?; Lauren Palmer.- Part III:
Womens Exclusivist Strategies.- 8. Wretched? Women's Questions of Love and
Labour in the Peoples Republicof China; Alison Lamont.- 9. Chasing
happiness: The role of marriage in the aspiration of success among Chinas
middle class women; Kailing Xie.- 10.- I entered this life because my
husband left me, I have to be careful now: A study of domesticity, intimacy
and belonging in the lives of women in sex work in a red-light area in
Eastern India; Mirna Guha.- Part IV: From Romantic Fantasy to
Disappointment.- 11. Utterly heart-breaking and devastating: Couple
relationships and intensive parenting culture in a time of cold
intimacies; Charlotte Faircloth.- 12. I wanted a happy ever after life:
Love, romance and disappointment in heterosexual single mothers intimacy
scripts; Charlotte Morris.- 13. The affective politics of progress
narratives: women talking about equality in heterosexual relationships; Raisa
Jurva.
Julia Carter is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of the West of England, UK. Lorena Arocha is Lecturer in Contemporary Slavery (Criminology), University of Hull, UK.
