Representations of heterosexual intimacy and social transformations: towards an integrated love semantics
Western sociological literature on contemporary intimacies and dominating love ideals can be divided in three main approaches: the first defines detraditionalization and individualization as emancipation, the second regards the dissolution of traditional references as a source of disengagement, the third highlights the coexistence between modernity and tradition in intimate practices and discourses. By drawing on the results of a case study on the Quebec TV show La Galère (2007-2013), this paper presents a fourth approach, one which is able to overcome the theoretical and empirical limits of the three above mentioned stances. Our approach champions the idea of an “integrated semantics” in order to describe semantic elements circulating in Western contemporary cultural productions, as well as the terms and the features of the coexistence between traditional and modern semantic themes. In addition, our approach provides the conceptual tools to support hypotheses regarding the link between observed semantic elements and contemporary social transformations impacting the intimate sphere.