What, According To Eva Illouz: How Does Capitalism Produce Romance?

A cancer cell known today is a destructive living organism that duplicates itself by feeding off the energy of a corpse. Similarly, a country that promotes capitalism enables businesses to gain wealth at the expense of the consumer’s wealth. Ultimately this becomes a question of morality as these corporations reap the money from hardworking citizens for the purpose of greed and exploitation of the free market economy. In the film, Capitalism: A love story, the film makers use conventions and point of view to show that capitalism in America is an evil that is better replaced by democracy. Michael Moore warns everyone that promoting capitalism will destroy the economy because of the financial sacrifices made by citizens for free enterprise

Our culture uses health and wellness with food to divide groups as well. Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") discusses how obesity vilifies certain groups and how poverty and obesity have a function in society, serving the industry and the economy. Julier says rhar obesity vilifies women, the poor, and people of color, groups of people that are already marginalized, and the stress of life as a marginalized group can lead to a disordered relationship with food. Americans are incredibly intolerant of individuals who have let themselves go, and get even angrier when those individuals don't do anything about it to get to the socially accepted normal: skinny (Mead "Why Do We Overeat?"). Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") gives 13 political, economic, and cultural functions of poverty and obesity, one of them being the idea that when fatness is related to irresponsible behavior, those who aren't fat and stick to the socially constructed normal of thin are able to maintain and create public agenda to control and vilify the obese and overweight.

Love is perhaps one of the most contested issues in the world. No one has a precise definition of what love really should look or feel like. Most people have resorted to use their own experiences in love to effectively derive its true meaning. Through these experiences, philosophers have argued that the definition of love varies greatly depending on whether it was given by a man or a woman. This is however not the case. As proven by the narratives of Beauvoir and Sartre, the definitions of love derived from the experiences of both men and women are quite similar. Consequentially, Beauvoir’s account of the woman in love sheds important light on Sartre’s conflicting thought about love. By first highlighting the concepts of love as stated by Beauvoir, this text seeks to establish how Beauvoir’s account of love lays a vital foundation for Sartre’s.

Even though many might think that hip-hop is a form of art and that capitalism is an economic system, that is not all that they are, they can also be identified as cultural systems. A culture is created when groups of people start to have unique social patterns, like their own food, cloth, language and what not. Another way a culture is created is through rituals and an ideology that a group of people start following. The culture of capitalism was created through “the anxieties to which it poses itself as a necessary answer”(Hochschild 145). For this reason, what used to be just an

Throughout the essay, every thought and idea is saturated with the gloomy, pessimistic view of humanity and nature that characterizes the many ways we are slaves to the uncaring chthonic forces in nature and (especially) in our own nature. Paglia also encourages us to pledge our allegiance to Apollonian order against Dionysian chaos. In this sense, at least, she details her views as a defense of Western culture against those who would criticize it as patriarchal, rationalistic, domineering, arrogant, and self-centered. To her point, western culture is all those things and more—and that is precisely why it is so valuable. “Most western culture is a distortion of reality,” she readily admits. “But reality should be distorted.” Capitalism is

The feminization of love by Francesca Cancian speak of the expression of love through emotion in which “lead us to believe that women are much more capable of love” (Cancian). In Francesca Cancian article, “the feminization of love she provides two explanations for the rise of the feminization of love. The first explanation is that “we identify love with emotional expression, talking about feelings which women prefer and are better at (Affective Love)”. However, that is not always the case because love can be demonstrated through acts of support. I also believe that society should not dictate how we identify love especially since society also dictates how a “man” should behave. In society, men are expected to be strong and to lack any type

Different cultures have diverse standards and norms about the right body size and shape, which can be an influence on how individuals perceive their body image. In addition, every culture has their own idea of body norms and each one has a different idea about the stigma that is one’s body. For instance, some Mexican cultures associate being heavy with laziness. However, expressing judgments to someone should not be acceptable. The constant bombardment of the media is determining this new movement of obesity. A topic that will stay as a negative or positive due to misconceptions and lack of

Beginning with agriculture, which is an important resource not only for good health, but economically as well. The Utopian agricultural sector is assumed to be extremely efficient and productive, this is proven as “They export the surpluses to their neighbors” (More, p. 93). Additionally, the mass participation in the country and on the farms benefit Utopia as well, as all town residents take turns working on the fields. Furthermore, Europe, along with many other Western societies, base their economy on capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which earning capital is prioritized and property is privately-owned in order to maximize a profit for those specific owners. Utopia however, contends with the idea of capitalism as it emphasizes equality and shared profits for all. More reiterates this by stating that “…there is only one way to attain general well-being, and this is equality in the distribution of goods. I doubt if such equality can ever be achieved where there is private property” (More, p. 86). By discussing the lack of private property rights in Utopia, the author is critiquing the present-day European society/economy by advertising the successes and perfection of Utopian society which lacks private property rights. In the Symposium by Plato, the idea of love is being challenged through the contrasting outlooks of love, which are given by Socrates and his friends. As the friends each share

The Ideology of love has many sociological concepts, despite it sounding unfamiliar. Everyone has a different perspective towards love, as to what it stands for and what it means. According to the Webster dictionary, love is defined as a “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties” (Webster). In class, we define love as a deep affection and concern for another, with whom one feels a strong emotional bond. It’s crucial to realize and question on how love is sociological, without just thinking love is formed naturally with a spiritual connection. There is a cause for the physical reactions that we feel as well as social dimensions coming into play. There are social foundations of love. The arguments I will be making

Often times when people hear the word romance, they think in matters of the cultural definition; this consisting of passionate love, companion love, and infatuation. Cultural romance is a common theme in today’s society, and it is often the only form of romance that people today are familiar with or even aware of. However, romance can also be thought of in terms of its dictionary definition. Romance can be described as a specific time period, art style or genre, events, one’s imagination, or someone’s private escape from the world. It can be demonstrated through many different art forms such as paintings, movies, literary forms such as poetry, and music, all of which was discussed in this class (Romance Theme: Definitions). On specific art piece that depicts the dictionary definition is Francis Danby’s painting “The Deluge.” In this painting, the famous flood that occurs in the book of Genesis of the Old Testament is the center point of the events in this painting. It shows people and animals in the water, struggling against the powerful waves of the storm. They are trying to cling to trees, land, and rocks in order to be saved from the deathly water that surrounds them. In the far distance you can make out the shape of Noah’s Arc and a bright red sun. Noah and his family, along with animals, were safe from the storm because God had commanded Noah to build the arc in order for him, his family, and two of each animal to be saved. Because it is showing an event that happened

Through the development of human history, economy and technology have been changed in many ways. Development of technology allows people to be in the industrial society, and capitalism takes an important position as an economic system. In order to develop technology, efficiency is necessary. Because of this reason, capitalism also focuses on efficiency seeking to make more profits. As the coming of technology and capitalism society develop the modernity in daily life, efficiency seeking is not only required at the public level but also in the private life, and it influences human connection and intimacy. Arlie Russell Hochschild, the author of “From the Frying Pan into the Fire”, demonstrates how capitalism and its market system influence human connection and intimacy in their private lives, especially in the family and the community. Hochschild claims that capitalism forces people to changing the notion of family because of efficiency-seeking in private life. Sherry Turkle, the author of “Alone Together”, talks about the impacts of technology that allow people to always be connected to one another; however, at the same time, can make them feel alone. Turkle says that technology contributes to human connection but also leads to the loss of real intimacy. Therefore, desire for efficiency not only in the public sphere but also in the private sphere aggravates the absence of authentic relationship and intimacy.

Both Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin acknowledged the fact that the spirit of modernity is in the form of a ‘seductive narrative of infinite progress and ceaseless growth’ in which human agency and collective will are abandoned. People are denounced to participate in the endless cycle of production and consumption of goods and services. Henceforth, they agree that the dialectics of civilization center on material culture and the built environment particularly, the capitalist society. In relation to this setting, is the impact on human psychology, bodies and social interactions. For Simmel, the constant urgency and commotion of life in the midst of capitalism result to a person’s adaptation to an attitude of emotional distance and self-interestedness. Benjamin coincides with this, nonetheless he put much focus on how the capitalism in the society amends the human psyche and corporeal habitus. For him, people’s actions become increasingly ‘massified’ that leads to ‘amorphous crowd of passer-by’, in lieu of a true community. Albeit,

In present English the word “romance” are derivative from Old French romanz can mean moreover a medieval story structure or a love affair, or, yet again, another story about a love affair, usually one of a rather idealized or idyllic type, from time to time marked by unexpected or strange incidents and progresses; and “to romance” has derive to mean “to create up a story that has no link with reality.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

“A world without love is a deadly place” serves as a warning to the doomed society of the World State in this new world (Fisher 1). In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, “pain, suffering, and unhappiness are virtually unknown because basic needs are provided for all, and soma tablets are readily available should anyone feel anxious or sad” (Morgan, Shanahan, Welsh 130). The civilization is equipped with a drug called soma. Soma is used to destroy any feeling of sadness or negative feelings; it is part of the society’s method to pursue happiness. The pursuit of happiness is brought to a degree of such extremity that the citizens are “conceived in test tubes and socialized for specific societal roles” that they are genetically engineered to enjoy (Morgan, Shanahan, Welsh 130). Not only are the citizens programmed to be content with their roles in the society, but their minds are formed by sleep training to believe that their only purposes in life are sexual pleasure and enjoying activities. The government raises them to have sexual interactions with whoever they want, whenever they want. A portion of their sleep training is “every one belongs to every one” (Huxley 205). The citizens do not experience the pleasure of love, nor do they experience friendship or family. After all, “without committed partners there is no pain associated with relationship breakup; but neither is there committed love. Without family ties there are no burdens of care but no joy of giving” (Morgan,

This is not the place to trace the long and complex history of how the transcendent, irrational, self-destructive passion of a Romeo and Juliet came to be considered the birthright of every European citizen; but this conviction which continues to shape much of our thinking about relationships, marriage, and the family found its mature form during the Romantic age. So thoroughly has love become