For the Sake of Love - A study of attitudes and values among young Swedish women in cohabiting partnerships

Abstract: Sweden is often considered a global forerunner of family demographic shifts brought about by increasing individualization and globalization. While modern theories often depict a general movement away from romantic love sentiments and toward more rational, equal and casual exchanges and defamilization, feminist scholarship critiques the optimism of these claims in light of persisting structural inequalities. What these lines of thought often share is a common treatment of romantic love as a harmful lingering remnant of patriarchal dominance. This thesis explores how young Swedish women living in heterosexual cohabiting partnerships conceive of romantic love themselves in relation to their partnerships and other aspects of their lives including unemployment, uncoupling and first-time childbirth. Informants view romantic love sentiments to be an essential element in their partnerships, however they do so in ways that complicate and challenge conventional scholarship on contemporary “individualistic” partnerships. The study analyzes in-depth interviews and previous research across social and behavioral science disciplines relating to romantic love, gender norms, individualization, democratization of relationships and the newly articulated life stage of emerging adulthood.