1.4.25

Liquid love


The "pure relationship" tends to be the prevailing form of human togetherness today, entered "for what can be derived by each person" and "continued only in so far as it is thought by both parties to deliver enough satisfactions for each individual to stay within it".

The present-day "pure relationship", in Giddens’s description, is not, 
as marriage once was, a "natural condition" whose durability can be taken for granted short of certain extreme circumstances. It is a feature of the pure relationship that it can be terminated, more or less at will, by either partner at any particular point. For a relationship to stand a chance of lasting, commitment is necessary; yet anyone who commits herself without reservations risks great hurt in the future, should the relationship become dissolved.
If you know that your partner may opt out at any moment, with or without your agreement (as soon as they find that you, as the source of their enjoyment, have been emptied of your potential, holding little promise of new joys, or just because the grass appears greener on the other side of the fence), investing your feelings into the current relationship is always a risky step. Investing strong feelings in your partnership and taking an oath of allegiance means taking an enormous risk: it makes you dependent on your partner (though let us note that dependency, now fast becoming a derogatory term, is what the moral responsibility for the Other is all about.

Zygmunt Bauman
1925 - 2017