The Structure of Digital Partner Choice

A Bourdieusian perspective
Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-319-82848-0
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 219 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 371 g

This work approaches the modern phenomenon of online dating, examining the ways people make use of its technical and social potential. In particular, the users' mate preferences, choices, strategies, and interactions are analyzed using the innovative method of click-stream observations and web-questionnaire data. For the purpose of these analyses, two major theories are used - an explicit theory of individual mate choice, and the more general relational theory developed by Pierre Bourdieu, which helps to highlight the social structures both underlying and resulting from mating online. Results show that online dating is not a partner marker free from social structure, but that the traditional social conditions found offline are also reproduced in this virtual setting. In contrast to the picture drawn by media discourse and advertising, online dating represents a partner market which fulfills the promise of happiness in a socially differential way.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schmitz, Andreas

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Forschung und Information Entscheidungstheorie, Sozialwahltheorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologische Disziplinen Sexualpsychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Sozialisation, Soziale Interaktion, Sozialer Wandel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction.- 2. Online Dating - A Meeting Point for the Modern Individual and Traditional Individualism.- 3. The Market Character of Online Dating.- 4. Classical Theories of Mate Choice and the Relational Deficit in the Study of Relationship Formation.- 5. A Bourdieusian Approach to Mating Processes.- 6. Methodological Implications.- 7. Empirical Analyses.- 8. Online Dating – A Unified and Unifying Symbolic Good Market.

Über Autor(innen)

Andreas Schmitz took his doctoral studies of sociology at Otto-Friedrich-Universität, Bamberg, supervised by Prof. Dr. Richard Münch. Since 2013 Andreas Schmitz has been working as Post-Doc in the department of sociology at the University of Bonn. In the summer term of 2015 he is acting as a substitute lecturer for Prof. Dr. Jörg Blasius.