Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

This is an extremely thought-provoking look at the relationship between romance and consumer capitalism. It explores in some detail the way in which our expectations of love and romance are influenced, perhaps even created, by advertising and the media. Yet, it goes quite a bit beyond this fascinating but limited theme to tackle some wider issues. Eva Illouz's study cuts to some core aspects of contemporary culture --the way our perception of nature, travel and tourism (and of course the way these are related to romantic stereotypes) have become tied to capitalist consumption; the "cultural contradiction" of capitalism --namely, that it's based on production (i.e. hard work) yet sells us on consumption (i.e. materialism, leisure);the different impact consumer culture has on working class and upper middle class people. The book appears to be aimed at an academic audience, which is a pity, because the subject is of much wider concern. While it definitely takes concentration, and a willingness to endure extensive footnotes, I found it well worth the effort.

The idea of 'romantic love' is our culture's sacred cow: just try to find a dozen other books in print that examine this modern, Western notion in a critical way. Illouz does good work here, using numerous interviews and polled data (one wishes she had a larger sample, my main criticism, and that it seems to drift toward the end)... to arrive at the conclusion that our internalized images of 'romance' come from advertising, not from our personal experiences. It's one of those books that shifts the way you see things just slightly, so that the familiar becomes much more interesting and suspect (I certainly think of this tome when I read in personals ads about 'moonlit strolls on the beach, champagne, and red roses'...). And boy, will you get a reaction from your friends when they see you goggling this volume! Nothing irritates people more.