Book Review: Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation

Abstract

The central argument of the study is that the social organisation of romantic love has been greatly transformed over the last century, and that the way we experience its misery today is quite distinctive. [...]the opening chapter of the book provides an engaging analysis of nineteenth-century romantic practices and feelings as portrayed in classics such as Emma, Madame Bovary, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Wuthering Heights. Of particular importance in Illouz's analysis is the use made of the concept of social status, in lieu of that of male power, for making sense of the gender stratification of sexual fields. [...]in her view, the magnification of serial sexuality as a source of social status for men is tied to the erosion of traditional sources of status such as the family or work.