The end of intimacy?: Love life in the age of globalization

Abstract

The central aim of this paper is to describe the sources and unintended consequences of the new intimate risks, those that are not exogenously (socioculturally), but endogenously determined. These new risks arise exclusively from personal wishes, expectations and preferences, as well as from intimate interactions between postmodern individuals. The defining difference between ?old? and ?new? intimacy is a disappearance of the regulating system of social norms due to modern processes of de-traditionalization. Freed from social expectations, which used to structure romantic relationships, the process of intimacy-building becomes a deinstitutionalized and fluid personal project - a part of the (post)modern self-project - recently termed ?the pure relationship? (A. Giddens). We argue that the pure relationship, which is presently the dominant model of romantic involvement, entails a number of (new) intimate risks leading to a deficit (and fragmentation) of intimacy. At the same time, as we point out in the concluding section, the pure relationship does contain a potential for true intimacy.Sredisnja je ambicija rada opisati ishodisne tocke i neintendirane posljedice novih rizika intimnosti, rizika koji vise nisu egzogeni nego endogeni - rizika koji proizlaze iz osobnih ocekivanja, preferencija i interakcija s drugima, slicno socijaliziranima. Temeljna razlika izmedju intimnosti (ili njezinih elemenata) nekada i danas jest isceznuce sustava drustvenih normi i praksi, koji je strukturirao osobna ocekivanja od veze. Intimnost je, drugim rijecima, danas deinstitucionalizirani, fluidni osobni projekt koji se treba realizirati u okvirima koje Giddens naziva cistom vezom. Ideja nasega rada moze se sazeti u sljedecu tezu: cista veza - kao danas dominantni model ljubavnog zajednistva - podrazumijeva niz intimnih rizika koji se najjasnije (i najdramaticnije) iskazuju u deficitu i fragmentaciji intimnosti. Istodobno, kao sto nastojimo pokazati u zavrsnome dijelu teksta, cista veza ukljucuje i potencijal za izgradnju nove intimnosti.