The Purchase of Intimacy
Author | : Viviana A. Zelizer |
Publisher | : Princeton University Press |
Total Pages | : 369 |
Release | : 2009-02-09 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781400826759 |
ISBN-13 | : 1400826756 |
Rating | : 4/5 (756 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Purchase of Intimacy written by Viviana A. Zelizer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In their personal lives, people consider it essential to separate economics and intimacy. We have, for example, a long-standing taboo against workplace romance, while we see marital love as different from prostitution because it is not a fundamentally financial exchange. In The Purchase of Intimacy, Viviana Zelizer mounts a provocative challenge to this view. Getting to the heart of one of life's greatest taboos, she shows how we all use economic activity to create, maintain, and renegotiate important ties--especially intimate ties--to other people. In everyday life, we invest intense effort and worry to strike the right balance. For example, when a wife's income equals or surpasses her husband's, how much more time should the man devote to household chores or child care? Sometimes legal disputes arise. Should the surviving partner in a same-sex relationship have received compensation for a partner's death as a result of 9/11? Through a host of compelling examples, Zelizer shows us why price is central to three key areas of intimacy: sexually tinged relations; health care by family members, friends, and professionals; and household economics. She draws both on research and materials ranging from reports on compensation to survivors of 9/11 victims to financial management Web sites and advice books for same-sex couples. From the bedroom to the courtroom, The Purchase of Intimacy opens a fascinating new window on the inner workings of the economic processes that pervade our private lives.