Robert C. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195369175
- eISBN:
- 9780199871186
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369175.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Sexuality represents a powerful life force within us, constituting our body's grand biological imperative. It should not surprise us, then, that our erotic energies often flow naturally into ...
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Sexuality represents a powerful life force within us, constituting our body's grand biological imperative. It should not surprise us, then, that our erotic energies often flow naturally into religious creativity. Recent research on the genetic basis of human sexuality identifies three separate programs responsible for lust, romantic love, and long‐term attachment. Religion, it seems, piggy‐backs on our threefold erotic desires. Eroticism thus plays an important role in luring individuals toward seeking union with attractive deities, forging devotional ties to a chosen lord, and forming long‐lasting commitments to the cultural codes thought to emanate from this beloved god. It is for this reason that sexuality is a uniquely powerful site for religious innovation, as can be seen in the sexually charged histories of several nineteenth‐century sectarian movements such as the Latter‐day Saints and the hundred‐year heritage of American Tantrism.Less
Sexuality represents a powerful life force within us, constituting our body's grand biological imperative. It should not surprise us, then, that our erotic energies often flow naturally into religious creativity. Recent research on the genetic basis of human sexuality identifies three separate programs responsible for lust, romantic love, and long‐term attachment. Religion, it seems, piggy‐backs on our threefold erotic desires. Eroticism thus plays an important role in luring individuals toward seeking union with attractive deities, forging devotional ties to a chosen lord, and forming long‐lasting commitments to the cultural codes thought to emanate from this beloved god. It is for this reason that sexuality is a uniquely powerful site for religious innovation, as can be seen in the sexually charged histories of several nineteenth‐century sectarian movements such as the Latter‐day Saints and the hundred‐year heritage of American Tantrism.
Marilyn Friedman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195138504
- eISBN:
- 9780199785902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138503.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This chapter focuses on the ideal of a merger, fusion, or union of lovers in heterosexual romantic love. It explores a recent cultural ideal of love that places value on personal autonomy in romantic ...
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This chapter focuses on the ideal of a merger, fusion, or union of lovers in heterosexual romantic love. It explores a recent cultural ideal of love that places value on personal autonomy in romantic relationships, and sketches out some persistent gender asymmetries that compromise those trends. It is argued that even women who place overriding importance on romantic relationships need some degree of autonomy in love.Less
This chapter focuses on the ideal of a merger, fusion, or union of lovers in heterosexual romantic love. It explores a recent cultural ideal of love that places value on personal autonomy in romantic relationships, and sketches out some persistent gender asymmetries that compromise those trends. It is argued that even women who place overriding importance on romantic relationships need some degree of autonomy in love.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195145502
- eISBN:
- 9780199834969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019514550X.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
I suggest that erotic love is (or can be) a virtue. I contest both the cynicism and the vacuousness in much of the love literature. I argue that love is a historical emotion, involving a great deal ...
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I suggest that erotic love is (or can be) a virtue. I contest both the cynicism and the vacuousness in much of the love literature. I argue that love is a historical emotion, involving a great deal of historical and cultural variation. And I give an analysis of what love is as shared identity. On the way, I also talk about sex and Plato's Symposium.Less
I suggest that erotic love is (or can be) a virtue. I contest both the cynicism and the vacuousness in much of the love literature. I argue that love is a historical emotion, involving a great deal of historical and cultural variation. And I give an analysis of what love is as shared identity. On the way, I also talk about sex and Plato's Symposium.
Daniel J. Hruschka
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520265462
- eISBN:
- 9780520947887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520265462.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter suggests that Oprah Winfrey's description of a friendship raises important questions about how sex, romance, and friendship fit together. Is it possible to have a “romantic” friendship ...
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This chapter suggests that Oprah Winfrey's description of a friendship raises important questions about how sex, romance, and friendship fit together. Is it possible to have a “romantic” friendship that feels like our stereotype of romance, with near obsessive affiliation and preoccupation with a partner, but that removes sexual desire? This chapter explores questions, differentiating the biosocial systems underlying different kinds of love that partners can feel for each other and examining how these different faces of love can interact in a single relationship. The anthropologist Helen Fisher proposes that these recurring folk distinctions reflect real differences in how our brains and bodies function in different relationships. Fisher argues that three distinct but intertwined drives—lust, romantic love, and attachment—play unique roles in the drama of human mating.Less
This chapter suggests that Oprah Winfrey's description of a friendship raises important questions about how sex, romance, and friendship fit together. Is it possible to have a “romantic” friendship that feels like our stereotype of romance, with near obsessive affiliation and preoccupation with a partner, but that removes sexual desire? This chapter explores questions, differentiating the biosocial systems underlying different kinds of love that partners can feel for each other and examining how these different faces of love can interact in a single relationship. The anthropologist Helen Fisher proposes that these recurring folk distinctions reflect real differences in how our brains and bodies function in different relationships. Fisher argues that three distinct but intertwined drives—lust, romantic love, and attachment—play unique roles in the drama of human mating.
Megan Vaughan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264775
- eISBN:
- 9780191734984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264775.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter looks at the history of romantic love in Sub-Saharan Africa. This text comes from a lecture given at the British Academy's 2009 Raleigh Lecture on History. This text attempts to explore ...
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This chapter looks at the history of romantic love in Sub-Saharan Africa. This text comes from a lecture given at the British Academy's 2009 Raleigh Lecture on History. This text attempts to explore some of the methodological and theoretical issues involved in an historical study of love in Africa. It argues that romantic love in Africa is not simply an extension of an imperialist cultural and political project and that emotional regimes cannot be divorced from economic circumstances. It explains that though the configurations of interest and emotion take specific forms in African societies, there is nothing peculiarly African about the evident need of individuals to balance realism and idealism in their emotional lives.Less
This chapter looks at the history of romantic love in Sub-Saharan Africa. This text comes from a lecture given at the British Academy's 2009 Raleigh Lecture on History. This text attempts to explore some of the methodological and theoretical issues involved in an historical study of love in Africa. It argues that romantic love in Africa is not simply an extension of an imperialist cultural and political project and that emotional regimes cannot be divorced from economic circumstances. It explains that though the configurations of interest and emotion take specific forms in African societies, there is nothing peculiarly African about the evident need of individuals to balance realism and idealism in their emotional lives.
C. Stephen Evans
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199272174
- eISBN:
- 9780191602061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199272174.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
When Kierkegaard tells us that we must not make ‘distinctions’ in our love, he does not mean that neighbour-love cannot coexist with such natural loves as romantic love and friendship. On the ...
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When Kierkegaard tells us that we must not make ‘distinctions’ in our love, he does not mean that neighbour-love cannot coexist with such natural loves as romantic love and friendship. On the contrary: Kierkegaard believes that neighbour-love teaches us how to love the friend and the beloved as we should. Concrete, local activity is not the only kind of neighbour-love that is possible or appropriate. Broader, cooperative efforts for those whom one may never meet fall within the scope of the divine command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, and this may require political and social action of a type that Kierkegaard himself does not endorse.Less
When Kierkegaard tells us that we must not make ‘distinctions’ in our love, he does not mean that neighbour-love cannot coexist with such natural loves as romantic love and friendship. On the contrary: Kierkegaard believes that neighbour-love teaches us how to love the friend and the beloved as we should. Concrete, local activity is not the only kind of neighbour-love that is possible or appropriate. Broader, cooperative efforts for those whom one may never meet fall within the scope of the divine command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, and this may require political and social action of a type that Kierkegaard himself does not endorse.
Jeffrey Blustein
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195067996
- eISBN:
- 9780199852895
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195067996.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter discusses love and friendship. It provides explanation of love that is directly targeted on a particular person and sets aside the love of inanimate objects, of God, of humanity in ...
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This chapter discusses love and friendship. It provides explanation of love that is directly targeted on a particular person and sets aside the love of inanimate objects, of God, of humanity in general. There is the love of a parent for a child, of a sibling for a sibling, of a friend for a friend, of a lover for a lover. Friendship in particular is neither necessary nor sufficient for love, but in close friendships the depth of the concern and care amounts to love, and the love of friends, unlike parental love, is a love that insists on equality and does not preclude sexuality. It discusses in detail the different types of personal love namely: Platonic love, romantic love, sexual love, parental love, and love of friends which is regarded as the deepest kind of friendship.Less
This chapter discusses love and friendship. It provides explanation of love that is directly targeted on a particular person and sets aside the love of inanimate objects, of God, of humanity in general. There is the love of a parent for a child, of a sibling for a sibling, of a friend for a friend, of a lover for a lover. Friendship in particular is neither necessary nor sufficient for love, but in close friendships the depth of the concern and care amounts to love, and the love of friends, unlike parental love, is a love that insists on equality and does not preclude sexuality. It discusses in detail the different types of personal love namely: Platonic love, romantic love, sexual love, parental love, and love of friends which is regarded as the deepest kind of friendship.
James E. Swain
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195388107
- eISBN:
- 9780199918386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388107.003.0042
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Intense interpersonal relationships are critical aspects of human life. Important examples are parental and romantic love. Each include a set of highly conserved behaviors and mental states that ...
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Intense interpersonal relationships are critical aspects of human life. Important examples are parental and romantic love. Each include a set of highly conserved behaviors and mental states that reflect genetic endowment and the early experience of being cared for as a child, as well as current factors. This essay selectively reviews the brain circuits and hormones that underpin these states, beginning from animal work and proceeding to hormone and brain imaging work on humans. Under hormonal and environmental influence, key limbic-hypothalamic-midbrain structures, in concert with partly overlapping integration and regulatory cortical brain areas shape human responses to psychosocial stimuli for adaptive behaviors in parental and romantic love situations. These same circuits may also dictate risk and resiliency to various forms of human psychopathology, including anxiety, depression and addiction.Less
Intense interpersonal relationships are critical aspects of human life. Important examples are parental and romantic love. Each include a set of highly conserved behaviors and mental states that reflect genetic endowment and the early experience of being cared for as a child, as well as current factors. This essay selectively reviews the brain circuits and hormones that underpin these states, beginning from animal work and proceeding to hormone and brain imaging work on humans. Under hormonal and environmental influence, key limbic-hypothalamic-midbrain structures, in concert with partly overlapping integration and regulatory cortical brain areas shape human responses to psychosocial stimuli for adaptive behaviors in parental and romantic love situations. These same circuits may also dictate risk and resiliency to various forms of human psychopathology, including anxiety, depression and addiction.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195368536
- eISBN:
- 9780199852031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368536.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter turns to perhaps the most overdiscussed emotion: love. It focuses on eros, which is the word Plato uses. It is erotic or sexual, or what we now (since the romantic period) call ...
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This chapter turns to perhaps the most overdiscussed emotion: love. It focuses on eros, which is the word Plato uses. It is erotic or sexual, or what we now (since the romantic period) call “romantic” love. What all forms of love share is a peculiar intentional structure, the conception of one's self as intertwined and fused with another. In parenthood, one loves what is quite literally a part of one's own identity. In friendship—true friendship, that is—one comes to think of one's friend as inseparable from oneself. But it is in erotic love, which tends to be exclusive, that this “merging” of selves is most profound.Less
This chapter turns to perhaps the most overdiscussed emotion: love. It focuses on eros, which is the word Plato uses. It is erotic or sexual, or what we now (since the romantic period) call “romantic” love. What all forms of love share is a peculiar intentional structure, the conception of one's self as intertwined and fused with another. In parenthood, one loves what is quite literally a part of one's own identity. In friendship—true friendship, that is—one comes to think of one's friend as inseparable from oneself. But it is in erotic love, which tends to be exclusive, that this “merging” of selves is most profound.
Ron Johnston (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264775
- eISBN:
- 9780191734984
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264775.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This volume contains sixteen chapters which contain the text of lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2008–10. From romantic love in sub-Saharan Africa to the British industrial revolution, ...
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This volume contains sixteen chapters which contain the text of lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2008–10. From romantic love in sub-Saharan Africa to the British industrial revolution, from John Donne to Arthur Miller, from surrealism to Chinese flower imagery, this book demonstrates unparalleled breadth and depth of scholarship.Less
This volume contains sixteen chapters which contain the text of lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2008–10. From romantic love in sub-Saharan Africa to the British industrial revolution, from John Donne to Arthur Miller, from surrealism to Chinese flower imagery, this book demonstrates unparalleled breadth and depth of scholarship.
Eugene Garver
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226575568
- eISBN:
- 9780226575735
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226575735.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Chapter 4 explores a specific pathology of the human imagination, that of romantic love. The cunning of imagination appears here: romantic love is a parody of devotion to God. In contrast to the ...
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Chapter 4 explores a specific pathology of the human imagination, that of romantic love. The cunning of imagination appears here: romantic love is a parody of devotion to God. In contrast to the universal creed of the TTP, which is a set of imaginative ideas that bring people together in a community of justice and charity, romantic love is not a stepping-stone to such devotion but a distraction from it. People have a more powerful imagination than other beings, but that power does not always benefit those who possess it. That is why ethical progress will never be smooth.Less
Chapter 4 explores a specific pathology of the human imagination, that of romantic love. The cunning of imagination appears here: romantic love is a parody of devotion to God. In contrast to the universal creed of the TTP, which is a set of imaginative ideas that bring people together in a community of justice and charity, romantic love is not a stepping-stone to such devotion but a distraction from it. People have a more powerful imagination than other beings, but that power does not always benefit those who possess it. That is why ethical progress will never be smooth.
Marilyn Friedman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195138504
- eISBN:
- 9780199785902
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138503.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Women have historically been prevented from living autonomously by systematic injustice, subordination, and oppression. The lingering effects of these practices have prompted many feminists to view ...
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Women have historically been prevented from living autonomously by systematic injustice, subordination, and oppression. The lingering effects of these practices have prompted many feminists to view autonomy with suspicion. This book defends the ideal of feminist autonomy. The book proposes that behavior is autonomous if it accords with the wants, cares, values, or commitments that the actor has reaffirmed and is able to sustain in the face of opposition. By this account, autonomy is socially grounded yet also individualizing and sometimes socially disruptive, qualities that can be ultimately advantageous for women. The book applies the concept of autonomy to domains of special interest to women. It defends the importance of autonomy in romantic love, considers how social institutions should respond to women who choose to remain in abusive relationships, and argues that liberal societies should tolerate minority cultural practices that violate women's rights so long as the women in question have chosen autonomously to live according to those practices.Less
Women have historically been prevented from living autonomously by systematic injustice, subordination, and oppression. The lingering effects of these practices have prompted many feminists to view autonomy with suspicion. This book defends the ideal of feminist autonomy. The book proposes that behavior is autonomous if it accords with the wants, cares, values, or commitments that the actor has reaffirmed and is able to sustain in the face of opposition. By this account, autonomy is socially grounded yet also individualizing and sometimes socially disruptive, qualities that can be ultimately advantageous for women. The book applies the concept of autonomy to domains of special interest to women. It defends the importance of autonomy in romantic love, considers how social institutions should respond to women who choose to remain in abusive relationships, and argues that liberal societies should tolerate minority cultural practices that violate women's rights so long as the women in question have chosen autonomously to live according to those practices.
Irving Singer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262512732
- eISBN:
- 9780262315128
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262512732.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This second volume of the author’s trilogy The Nature of Love studies the ideas and ideals of medieval courtly love and nineteenth-century Romantic love, as well as the transition between these two ...
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This second volume of the author’s trilogy The Nature of Love studies the ideas and ideals of medieval courtly love and nineteenth-century Romantic love, as well as the transition between these two perspectives. According to the traditions of courtly love in the twelfth century and thereafter, not only God but also human beings in themselves are capable of authentic love. The pursuit of love between man and woman was seen as a splendid ideal that ennobles both the lover and the beloved. It was something more than libidinal sexuality and involved sophisticated and highly refined courtliness that emulated religious love in its ability to create a holy union between the participants. Adherents to Romantic love in later centuries affirmed the capacity of love to effect a merging between two people who thus became one. The author analyzes the transition from courtly to Romantic love by reference to the writings of many artists beginning with Dante and ending with Richard Wagner, as well as Neoplatonist philosophers of the Italian Renaissance, Descartes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. In relation to romanticism itself, he distinguishes between two aspects—“benign romanticism” and “Romantic pessimism”—that took on renewed importance in the twentieth century.Less
This second volume of the author’s trilogy The Nature of Love studies the ideas and ideals of medieval courtly love and nineteenth-century Romantic love, as well as the transition between these two perspectives. According to the traditions of courtly love in the twelfth century and thereafter, not only God but also human beings in themselves are capable of authentic love. The pursuit of love between man and woman was seen as a splendid ideal that ennobles both the lover and the beloved. It was something more than libidinal sexuality and involved sophisticated and highly refined courtliness that emulated religious love in its ability to create a holy union between the participants. Adherents to Romantic love in later centuries affirmed the capacity of love to effect a merging between two people who thus became one. The author analyzes the transition from courtly to Romantic love by reference to the writings of many artists beginning with Dante and ending with Richard Wagner, as well as Neoplatonist philosophers of the Italian Renaissance, Descartes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. In relation to romanticism itself, he distinguishes between two aspects—“benign romanticism” and “Romantic pessimism”—that took on renewed importance in the twentieth century.
Caroline Franklin
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112303
- eISBN:
- 9780191670763
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112303.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
Male-authored Regency verse romances, published in the first fifteen years of the century, are examined initially as a group with regard to their ideology of gender. Irene Tayler and Gina Luria have ...
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Male-authored Regency verse romances, published in the first fifteen years of the century, are examined initially as a group with regard to their ideology of gender. Irene Tayler and Gina Luria have suggested that genre itself may be a function of gender in this period, because the novel was dominated by female authors, readers, and protagonists, while the canon of Romantic poets is entirely male. It was self-consciously feminine both in its polished crafsmanship and in its sentimental celebration of domesticity. The relationship between female-authored poetry and male Romanticism is therefore problematic for literary historians. This chapter suggests that male Regency poets therefore compensated by emphasising historical or mythic active adventure, minimising the theme of romantic love, and suffusing the issue of female chastity with the ideology of patriotism.Less
Male-authored Regency verse romances, published in the first fifteen years of the century, are examined initially as a group with regard to their ideology of gender. Irene Tayler and Gina Luria have suggested that genre itself may be a function of gender in this period, because the novel was dominated by female authors, readers, and protagonists, while the canon of Romantic poets is entirely male. It was self-consciously feminine both in its polished crafsmanship and in its sentimental celebration of domesticity. The relationship between female-authored poetry and male Romanticism is therefore problematic for literary historians. This chapter suggests that male Regency poets therefore compensated by emphasising historical or mythic active adventure, minimising the theme of romantic love, and suffusing the issue of female chastity with the ideology of patriotism.
Jennifer M. Tomlinson and Arthur Aron
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199791064
- eISBN:
- 9780199345199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199791064.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Romantic love can be one of life’s most exhilarating and meaningful experiences, providing strong potential for self-growth. Recent research suggests that many positive processes occur within healthy ...
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Romantic love can be one of life’s most exhilarating and meaningful experiences, providing strong potential for self-growth. Recent research suggests that many positive processes occur within healthy love relationships, benefitting both the self and the relationship. This chapter provides a brief overview of the current state of knowledge of the positive psychology of romantic love, including definitions, theoretical models, and the role of individual and group differences. We begin with a review of relevant theories and their specific implications for positive psychology. We then focus in more detail on one specific conceptual framework, the self-expansion model of love (Aron & Aron, 1986) that has particularly direct implications in this context. The self-expansion model focuses on how love supports positive development through providing meaning and helping one to self-expand (increase one’s potential self-efficacy). We conclude with a consideration of future directions.Less
Romantic love can be one of life’s most exhilarating and meaningful experiences, providing strong potential for self-growth. Recent research suggests that many positive processes occur within healthy love relationships, benefitting both the self and the relationship. This chapter provides a brief overview of the current state of knowledge of the positive psychology of romantic love, including definitions, theoretical models, and the role of individual and group differences. We begin with a review of relevant theories and their specific implications for positive psychology. We then focus in more detail on one specific conceptual framework, the self-expansion model of love (Aron & Aron, 1986) that has particularly direct implications in this context. The self-expansion model focuses on how love supports positive development through providing meaning and helping one to self-expand (increase one’s potential self-efficacy). We conclude with a consideration of future directions.
James MacDowell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748680177
- eISBN:
- 9780748693825
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748680177.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The Hollywood ‘happy ending’ is almost universally taken to be inherently ideological conservative, in part because of traditions in literary and film theory that portray narrative closure itself as ...
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The Hollywood ‘happy ending’ is almost universally taken to be inherently ideological conservative, in part because of traditions in literary and film theory that portray narrative closure itself as ideologically pernicious. This chapter approaches the issue of ideology from three angles. Firstly addressing the broad question of popular art's ideological influence itself, it discusses (with particular reference to Before Sunrise [1995]) what potential the concept of the final couple might be said to have for structuring viewers’ real-life romantic relationships. Secondly, it takes up the question of the ideological effects of closure, particularly as they relate to the model of the self-consciously artificial ‘happy ending’ made especially famous by much critical work on the films of Douglas Sirk. The chapter concludes by addressing several historically-distinct endings taken from what is often considered an innately ‘conservative’ genre, the romantic comedy. The chapter concludes by arguing that the ideological significance of the final couple will tend to rest less on the convention's mere presence than in the particulars of its presentation.Less
The Hollywood ‘happy ending’ is almost universally taken to be inherently ideological conservative, in part because of traditions in literary and film theory that portray narrative closure itself as ideologically pernicious. This chapter approaches the issue of ideology from three angles. Firstly addressing the broad question of popular art's ideological influence itself, it discusses (with particular reference to Before Sunrise [1995]) what potential the concept of the final couple might be said to have for structuring viewers’ real-life romantic relationships. Secondly, it takes up the question of the ideological effects of closure, particularly as they relate to the model of the self-consciously artificial ‘happy ending’ made especially famous by much critical work on the films of Douglas Sirk. The chapter concludes by addressing several historically-distinct endings taken from what is often considered an innately ‘conservative’ genre, the romantic comedy. The chapter concludes by arguing that the ideological significance of the final couple will tend to rest less on the convention's mere presence than in the particulars of its presentation.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226857923
- eISBN:
- 9780226857954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226857954.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the concept of friendship in relation to love between men in late Imperial China. It argues that the very concept of love circulating in late Ming culture was fundamentally ...
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This chapter examines the concept of friendship in relation to love between men in late Imperial China. It argues that the very concept of love circulating in late Ming culture was fundamentally influenced by the chivalric ideal of friendship between two men and that the egalitarian homosocial model of male friendship played a crucial role in shaping the generic concept of romantic love, irrespective of the gender of the lovers involved. The chapter also details the intellectual context of the rise of the so-called cult of love in the late Ming period.Less
This chapter examines the concept of friendship in relation to love between men in late Imperial China. It argues that the very concept of love circulating in late Ming culture was fundamentally influenced by the chivalric ideal of friendship between two men and that the egalitarian homosocial model of male friendship played a crucial role in shaping the generic concept of romantic love, irrespective of the gender of the lovers involved. The chapter also details the intellectual context of the rise of the so-called cult of love in the late Ming period.
Anya Jabour
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831014
- eISBN:
- 9781469605166
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807887646_jabour.9
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
Courtship was not always successful in allaying young women's fears of commitment or discouraging them from seeking marriage. Yet young single women in the nineteenth-century Old South did not ...
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Courtship was not always successful in allaying young women's fears of commitment or discouraging them from seeking marriage. Yet young single women in the nineteenth-century Old South did not proceed immediately from courtship to marriage. Instead, they experienced—and in many cases, insisted upon—a lengthy period of engagement. This chapter explores how engagement allowed young southern women to strive for intimacy with their intended husbands and to come to terms with their persistent misgivings about marriage. Focusing on the personal experience of Texas bride Lizzie Scott, who, pondering the meaning of marriage in her journal, predicted, “My life will be entirely changed,” it considers how young women of the Old South turned to engagement as a means to use the ideal of romantic love to redefine their role within marriage, as well as to resist the dictates of patriarchy even as they accepted the inevitability of marriage. Finally, the chapter discusses how the life stage of engagement served as a tipping point between resistance and resignation for young southern women.Less
Courtship was not always successful in allaying young women's fears of commitment or discouraging them from seeking marriage. Yet young single women in the nineteenth-century Old South did not proceed immediately from courtship to marriage. Instead, they experienced—and in many cases, insisted upon—a lengthy period of engagement. This chapter explores how engagement allowed young southern women to strive for intimacy with their intended husbands and to come to terms with their persistent misgivings about marriage. Focusing on the personal experience of Texas bride Lizzie Scott, who, pondering the meaning of marriage in her journal, predicted, “My life will be entirely changed,” it considers how young women of the Old South turned to engagement as a means to use the ideal of romantic love to redefine their role within marriage, as well as to resist the dictates of patriarchy even as they accepted the inevitability of marriage. Finally, the chapter discusses how the life stage of engagement served as a tipping point between resistance and resignation for young southern women.
Teresa Platz Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198099437
- eISBN:
- 9780199083008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198099437.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Chapter 6 discusses the practices of dating, sex, and marriage amongst the café culture crowd. Though marriage continued to be the norm and a family matter, the young generation had found ways of ...
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Chapter 6 discusses the practices of dating, sex, and marriage amongst the café culture crowd. Though marriage continued to be the norm and a family matter, the young generation had found ways of negotiating the when, how and who–not least with previous generations paving the way. Romantic love, dating, courtship, personal happiness, compatibility, and the expression of individual preferences were not only more acceptable but had found their way into arranged marriages. There was a move observable from patriarchal—or at least gerontocratic— arrangements, towards more negotiated practices which included the children in decision-making and promoted equality.Less
Chapter 6 discusses the practices of dating, sex, and marriage amongst the café culture crowd. Though marriage continued to be the norm and a family matter, the young generation had found ways of negotiating the when, how and who–not least with previous generations paving the way. Romantic love, dating, courtship, personal happiness, compatibility, and the expression of individual preferences were not only more acceptable but had found their way into arranged marriages. There was a move observable from patriarchal—or at least gerontocratic— arrangements, towards more negotiated practices which included the children in decision-making and promoted equality.
David L. Paletz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780195384512
- eISBN:
- 9780199350452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195384512.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
Romantic love, the heart of many fiction films, is rare in documentary films. This essay begins by explaining its absence and shows that, when it appears, romantic love is usually depicted ...
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Romantic love, the heart of many fiction films, is rare in documentary films. This essay begins by explaining its absence and shows that, when it appears, romantic love is usually depicted unfavorably: pleasure turns into pain, possession into loss or a marriage of misery and make do. Then the focus turns to “Sherman’s March,” the documentary that best reveals romantic love in all its aspects, as we (the viewers) accompany Ross McElwee or, rather, his persona, in a quest for romantic love from one after another engaging and distinctive Southern woman. The analysis shows the film’s remarkable construction, sound track and voiceovers, its images and camera movements; and finds that, as it celebrates the women’s uniqueness, originality and style, the film is a droll tale of a search marked more by frustration and failure than success.Less
Romantic love, the heart of many fiction films, is rare in documentary films. This essay begins by explaining its absence and shows that, when it appears, romantic love is usually depicted unfavorably: pleasure turns into pain, possession into loss or a marriage of misery and make do. Then the focus turns to “Sherman’s March,” the documentary that best reveals romantic love in all its aspects, as we (the viewers) accompany Ross McElwee or, rather, his persona, in a quest for romantic love from one after another engaging and distinctive Southern woman. The analysis shows the film’s remarkable construction, sound track and voiceovers, its images and camera movements; and finds that, as it celebrates the women’s uniqueness, originality and style, the film is a droll tale of a search marked more by frustration and failure than success.
