How are romantic cross‐class relationships sustained?
How are romantic relationships across class maintained under broader conditions of class inequality? This article draws on in‐depth interviews with 38 people who have partnered across class in Australia. It examines the emotional and interpersonal labour required to preserve such relationships withi...
| Published in: | British Journal of Sociology Vol. 75; no. 4; pp. 471 - 485 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Sep2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=179411909&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 179411909 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00071315 BJS jtl: British Journal of Sociology issn: 00071315 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2024 vid: 75 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 179411909 10.1111/1468-4446.13097 ppf: 471 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: How are romantic cross‐class relationships sustained? aug: au: Butler, Rose Vincent, Eve affil: Senior Research Fellow in Sociology, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Burwood Victoria,, Australia Discipline Chair in Anthropology, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney New South Wales,, Australia su: Class differences Emotions Negotiation Respondents Social classes Social mobility sug: subj: Class differences Emotions Negotiation Respondents Social classes Social mobility keyword: class cross‐class relationships emotion inequality social mobility class cross‐class relationships emotion inequality social mobility ab: How are romantic relationships across class maintained under broader conditions of class inequality? This article draws on in‐depth interviews with 38 people who have partnered across class in Australia. It examines the emotional and interpersonal labour required to preserve such relationships within a highly differentiated class structure that is widely obscured in public and political life. We find, first, that for people in committed cross‐class relationships where this difference was openly acknowledged, class difference was acutely felt and described in highly emotional, imprecise terms. Second, this heightened awareness of class difference stimulated elevated levels of class friction and class dissonance within these relationships. We detail these experiences, as they were narrated to us, before examining certain interviewees' efforts to understand and resolve these complexities. We highlight the collaborative work undertaken by one couple in particular to navigate feelings of class discomfort and class dissonance. Third, by focussing on the emotional terrain of intimate cross‐class negotiations, we stress moments which have the potential to disrupt assumptions about class hierarchies and modes of moral distinction that take place within these relationships. Proceeding to tentatively valorise different forms of value‐making and recognition within cross‐class relationships, we also pay attention to the role of class in enabling this very capacity for adaptation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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