Eva Illouz 
Consuming the Romantic Utopia 
Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels the mass of images that define our ideas of love and romance, revealing that the experience of ‘true’ love is deeply embedded in the experience of consumer capitalism. Illouz studies how individual conceptions of love overlap with the world of clichés and images she calls the ‘Romantic Utopia.’ This utopia lives in the collective imagination of the nation and is built on images that unite amorous and economic activities in the rituals of dating, lovemaking, and marriage.


Since the early 1900s, advertisers have tied the purchase of beauty products, sports cars, diet drinks, and snack foods to success in love and happiness. Illouz reveals that, ultimately, every cliché of romance—from an intimate dinner to a dozen red roses—is constructed by advertising and media images that preach a democratic ethos of consumption: material goods and happiness are available to all.


Engaging and witty, Illouz’s study begins with readings of ads, songs, films, and other public representations of romance and concludes with individual interviews in order to analyze the ways in which mass messages are internalized. Combining extensive historical research, interviews, and postmodern social theory, Illouz brings an impressive scholarship to her fascinating portrait of love in America.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments


Introduction to the Sociology of Love

Romantic Love as a Cultural Practice

Romantic Love as a Utopia of Transgression

Overview

On Methodology


PART I. WHEN ROMANCE MET THE MARKET

Chapter 1. Constructing the Romantic Utopia

The Secularization of Love, or Love as a New Religion

Love on Sale

Romance vs. Marriage

A Romantic Tale Spectacle

Conclusion


Chapter 2. Trouble in Utopia

The Price of Love

Alone in Public

Dating and the Spirit of Consumerism

Conclusion


PART 2. ALL THAT IS ROMANTIC MELTS INTO AIR: LOVE AS

A POSTMODERN CONDITION

Chapter 3· From the Romantic Utopia to the American Dream

‘You Could Be Here, Now’

Such a Natural Love

Romance as Invisible Affluence

Codes Are Getting Tired

Conclusion


Chapter 4· An All-Consuming Love

Reenchanting the World

A Consuming Romance

The Luxury of Romance

Travel, Nature, and Romance

Romance as Liminality

The Commerce of Love: Ideology or Utopia?

Conclusion


Chapter 5. Real Fictions and Fictional Realities

Love at First Sight

Realist Love

Reality as Fiction

Fiction as Reality

A Postmodern Romantic Condition

Conclusion


PART 3. THE BUSINESS OF LOVE

Chapter 6. Reason within Passion

Charting the Heart

Passion within Reason, Reason within Passion

The Uncertainties of the Heart

The Science of Love

Therapeutic Discourse as Reflexive Discourse


Chapter 7. The Reasons for Passion

Agapic and Erosic Love

A Very Reasonable Madness

Socioeconomic Boundaries

Moral and Personality Boundaries

Educational and Cultural Boundaries

I Talk, Therefore You Love Me

Love for Free

Conclusion


Chapter 8. The Class of Love

The Elementary Forms of Romance

Love as Difference

Love and Symbolic Domination

Class, Romance, and the Structure of Everyday Life

Conclusion


Conclusion: A Happy Ending?

The Story of Love


Appendix 1. A Few Words about Methods

Appendix 2. Questionnaire

Appendix 3. Images of Romance

Notes

References

Index

About the author

Eva Illouz teaches sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the Academic Director of the Program of Cultural Studies as well as a member of The Center for the Study of Rationality