On love: Notes on the construction of meaning in romantic relationships

Abstract

In this paper, I will explore love as a universe of meaning constituted at the crossroads of cultural patterns and actors’ biographical experiences. Universes of meaning provide a structure of cognitive pre-selections. While the social in general is composed of a multitude of universes of meaning, they belong to the public. Romantic relationships are private and enable privacy. I will (1) propose a definition of love and a framework that serves to ensure its theoretical validity. I will then (2) analytically deconstruct the unity of communication, interaction, eroticism, and emotionality as love’s different media of experience and explore their self-referential functionality.