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Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts

  • Provides a comprehensive overview of the key debates in love and culture scholarship

  • Explores both classical knowledge of love and culture and current cutting-edge research

  • Contains insights from the fields of relationship scholarship, sociology, anthropology, and history

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxvii
  2. Romantic Love: Conceptualizations and Approaches

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. The Concept of Romantic Love

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 3-34
  3. Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Romantic Love

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 51-51
    2. The Ancients Were Open to Love

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 53-68
    3. Love in the Premedieval and Medieval Era

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 69-96
  4. Modern Love Around the World

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163
    2. Love in Modern America and Europe

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 165-173
    3. Romantic Love in the Arab World

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 175-184
    4. Love in South Asia

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 185-198
    5. Love in Latin America

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 199-217
    6. Marriage and Love in Africa in the Twentieth Century

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 233-248
    7. Romantic Love in China and Japan

      • Victor Karandashev
      Pages 249-261
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 279-305

About this book

This volume presents a conceptual, historical, anthropological, and sociological review of how culture affects our experience and expression of romantic love. What is romantic love and how is it different from and similar to other kinds of love? How is romantic love related to sex and marriage in human history and across contemporary cultures? What cultural factors mediate attraction in love? These are some of the questions the volume explores through its interdisciplinary yet focused lens.

 Much of the current research evidence suggests that love is a universal emotion experienced by a majority of people, in various historical eras, and in all the world’s cultures. Yet, love displays in different ways because culture has an impact on people’s conceptions of love and the ways they feel, think, and behave in romantic relationships. This volume summarizes classical knowledge on love and culture while at the same time focusing sharply on recent studies and cutting-edge research that has advanced the field.

Divided into three parts, the volume begins by defining and analyzing the concept of romantic love and interdisciplinary approach to its study in cultural context. Part II traces the origin and evolution of romantic love both in various places throughout the world and various time periods throughout history. Part III presents the revolutionary expansion of romantic love ideas and practices in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in various parts of the world, focusing particularly on the development of romantic love as a cultural ideal of the modern cultures. Finally, the book concludes by summarizing the major achievements in this field of study and predicts future development. A timely and thoughtful addition to the literature, Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts delivers thought-provoking insights to researchers in relationship scholarship, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies, and all those interested in the universal human concept of love.




Overall I find Dr. Victor Karandashev is an excellent and fine scholar who has a firm grasp of both the fundamental principles of cross-cultural research and of anthropology. In our increasingly connected world  Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts updates and adds to the descriptions and explanations of similarities and differences in romantic love across generations and cultures.  Romantic love encompasses the life span, rather than being a phenomenon largely confined to youthful years. The topic of this project concerns the deepest of our sentiments and pervades life from birth to death. This book  contributes to better knowledge of this phenomenon across generations.

Félix Neto

(Professor of Psychology)

Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação

Universidade do Porto, Portugal


Reviews

“Karandashev (psychology, Aquinas College) attempts to examine the concept of “romantic love” throughout history and across many world cultures. … it will no doubt compel many readers to consult the extensive bibliography and venture where their academic interest in love may take them! Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty.” (J. R. Mitrano, Choice, Vol. 54 (12), August, 2017)


“This unique text combines historical, sociological, anthropological, and psychological data to answer, ‘What does romantic love look like to different people and cultures across time and geographies?’ … this book is an impressive and refreshing read for anyone interested in an interdisciplinary and inclusive look at ‘romantic love.’ … This text may be used to answer historical questions and generate inclusive research questions moving forward.” (Katheryn L. B. Votaw, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (18), May, 2017)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Psychology, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, USA

    Victor Karandashev

About the author

Dr. Victor Karandashev taught in Russian universities for many years and has published three textbooks for psychology courses. In the late 1990s and 2000s, he conducted research on international psychology in several European countries, including universities in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, as well as was a visiting professor and a Fulbright Scholar in the U.S.A. He co-edited three volumes of Teaching Psychology Around the World (2007, 2009, 2012). He has presented his work related to international and cross-cultural psychology at several national and international conferences. During recent years he was actively engaged in the study of romantic love and has had several publications on the topic. Currently he works as Professor of Psychology at Aquinas College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts

  • Authors: Victor Karandashev

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42683-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-42681-5Published: 02 January 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-82636-3Published: 07 July 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-42683-9Published: 24 December 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXVII, 305

  • Number of Illustrations: 9 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Cultural Studies, Cross Cultural Psychology, Anthropology, Personality and Social Psychology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access