Cold Intimacies

It is commonly assumed that capitalism has created an a-emotionalworld dominated by bureaucratic rationality; that economic behaviorconflicts with intimate, authentic relationships; that the publicand private spheres are irremediably opposed to each other; andthat true love is opposed to calculation and self-interest. Eva Illouz rejects these conventional ideas and argues that theculture of capitalism has fostered an intensely emotional culturein the workplace, in the family, and in our own relationship toourselves. She argues that economic relations have become deeplyemotional, while close, intimate relationships have becomeincreasingly defined by economic and political models ofbargaining, exchange, and equity. This dual process by whichemotional and economic relationships come to define and shape eachother is called emotional capitalism. Illouz finds evidence of thisprocess of emotional capitalism in various social sites: self-helpliterature, women's magazines, talk shows, support groups, and theInternet dating sites. How did this happen? What are the socialconsequences of the current preoccupation with emotions? How didthe public sphere become saturated with the exposure of privatelife? Why does suffering occupy a central place in contemporaryidentity? How has emotional capitalism transformed our romanticchoices and experiences? Building on and revising the intellectuallegacy of critical theory, this book addresses these questions andoffers a new interpretation of the reasons why the public and theprivate, the economic and the emotional spheres have becomeinextricably intertwined.