Illouz, Eva : Tel Aviv University
Eva Illouz is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tel-Aviv University.
"Illouz creates a map of the intricate relationship between love and economics in American society. In
an analytical style reminiscent of that of Daniel Bell in its scope and intellectual ambition, she argues that
romantic love captures our minds and hearts by promising transgression through consumption of leisure and nature."
--Michelle Lamont, author of Money, Morals, and Manners
University Of California Press Web Site, April, 2000
To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk
on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again
on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels
the mass of images that define our ideas of love and romance, revealing that the experience of "true"
love is deeply embedded in the experience of consumer capitalism. Illouz studies how individual conceptions of
love overlap with the world of clichés and images she calls the "Romantic Utopia." This utopia
lives in the collective imagination of the nation and is built on images that unite amorous and economic activities
in the rituals of dating, lovemaking, and marriage.
Since the early 1900s, advertisers have tied the purchase of beauty products, sports cars, diet drinks, and snack
foods to success in love and happiness. Illouz reveals that, ultimately, every cliché of romance--from an
intimate dinner to a dozen red roses--is constructed by advertising and media images that preach a democratic ethos
of consumption: material goods and happiness are available to all.
Engaging and witty, Illouz's study begins with readings of ads, songs, films, and other public representations
of romance and concludes with individual interviews in order to analyze the ways in which mass messages are internalized.
Combining extensive historical research, interviews, and postmodern social theory, Illouz brings an impressive
scholarship to her fascinating portrait of love in America.
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