30214

Contested Intimacies: Understanding (Non-)Monogamy

Irina Christiani

Comments

Until recently a niche phenomenon in research and everyday life, consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationship concepts and practices such as polyamory and open relationships are gaining popularity, especially among young adults. Recent national samples have found that approximately 20-30% of Germans under the age of 30 can imagine having an open relationship (Marktforschungsinstitut Fittkau und Maaß, 2023), one in six Americans would like to engage in CNM (Moors et al., 2021), and 4% are practicing some form of CNM (Levine et al., 2018). These findings, among others, suggest a shift in the cultural meaning and practice of intimate relationships. In this seminar we will explore (1) why CNM is currently gaining popularity, and (2) how and to what extent CNM as a social institution and set of practices is emerging and being adopted by individuals as a (more or less) radical counter-schema to monogamy in modern societies.
Our inquiry starts at the macro-level of sociological observation. As a first step, we will apply a social constructivist lens to mononormativity: the system of cultural beliefs and norms that propagate, reinforce, and perpetuate the notion that monogamous practice is the only morally acceptable and natural form of sexual and romantic intimacy. We will discuss its historical and cultural contingency as well as its intersections and potential symbiosis with the cultural belief systems of patriarchy, capitalism, and heteronormativity.
Once sensitized to mononormativity, we will turn to CNM as (a set of) counterculture(s), identifying the factors and actors that have promoted its emergence as a social institution and its diffusion into mainstream culture. At the meso-level, we will focus on organized attempts and strategies to establish CNM as a counterculture.
We will then approach the micro-level of CNM practices and identities, focusing on the processes of individual reconstruction that CNM "pioneers" undergo as they turn their backs on monogamy and are confronted with the task of navigating a field of tension between their mononormative socialization and social environment on the one hand, and their aspirations to practice CNM on the other. Specifically, we will examine how CNM people act as agents in (re)constructing their identities, paying particular attention to the role of intrapersonal emotional conflicts that arise as a result of internalized mononormativity.
Finally, we will discuss the limits and future of such (self-)transformations and synthesize our findings by exploring the extent to which CNM represents a real departure from and rival to mononormativity. To what extent is CNM still "covertly" aligned with mononormativity in structure, thought, and practice? Is it a fleeting trend that will soon be forgotten and reabsorbed by mononormativity? Or will it undermine mononormativity and perhaps even spell the end of monogamous practice? close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Wed, 12:00 - 14:00 14 Class schedule

Wed, 2025-04-16 12:00 - 14:00

Lecturers:
Irina Christiani