Paradoxes of the Age of Emotional Uncertainty. Review of the Book by E. Illuz “Why Does Love Hurt? Sociological Explanation”. Moscow; Berlin: DirectMedia Publishing, 2020. 400 p.

The reviewed book presents a sociological view of the dynamics of partnership relations in the postmodern era. Based on extensive theoretical and empirical material, the author analyzes the feeling of love as the social basis of self-consciousness of our contemporary. According to the author’s position, the main paradox of actual gender relations consists in the combination of a certain cooling in the emotional sphere of life with the fact that love today becomes the leading basis for determining one’s own value — both in social and psychological terms. This situation is based on the contradictions of public consciousness concerning the dichotomies of freedom and choice, power and subordination, community and independence. Their reflection on the level of individual experience and create, according to the author, modern “wounds of love”.

1. Illuz E. Why does love hurt? Sociological explanation. Moscow; Berlin: DirectMedia Publishing, 2020. 400 p.

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