Sex and Sexuality: 2007 Conference Session 5

Session 5: Intimacy
Chair: Paul Reynolds

The Embeddedness of Intimate Relationships: Seafarers’ Partners in Cyberspace
Lijun Tang
Seafarers International Research Centre, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

It has been suggested that the practice of doing intimacy today tends to be self centred. According to Giddens, the self has become a ‘reflexive project’, pursuing self-satisfaction and doing ‘pure relationships’ which last only when involved parties can obtain enough rewards from those relations. Beck and Beck-Germsheim argue that people are forced to be individualized and to make choices for themselves in most respects and most stages of their lives, as a result of which, individuals tend to focus on self-interest in doing intimate relationships and make the latter a ‘normal chaos’. For Bauman, intimate bonds become liquid – in order not to miss the next opportunity to satisfy desires, individuals can detach themselves from one relationship and reattach to another with a high flexibility. These arguments, however, present a too individualistic view of the self, as if individuals are floating-free in doing intimacy.
Through a qualitative study, including online observation and face-to-face interviews, of a group of young Chinese seafarers’ partners who form an online network by participating in an online discussion website, this paper shows that these women help each other to sustain attachment bonds with seafarers during difficult times. Seafarers’ long term absence causes lots of predicaments for their partners, such as loneliness, isolation, and lack of communication. When relationships with seafarers are under threat, these seafarer-partners in this network try to encourage each other to be strong, reframe difficult situations in a positive light for each other, and offer advice in tackling the threat. By doing so, seafarers’ partners become more willing to sacrifice themselves and the attachment bonds are thus strengthened. This suggests that social networks have a role to play in sustaining intimate relationships.

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Reisman’s The Lonely Crowd Revisited: The Loss of Meaningful Human Connections and Intimacy in a Cyber-Directed World
James K. Semones & Lilian M. Romero
San Jacinto College, Houston, Texas and San Jacinto College, Pasadena, Texas, USA

The many benefits of the information revolution are obvious as witnessed by its growing impact on the world. However, is there a “dark side” to the seductive ease of access to web-based “information” and communication that threatens to diminish how we connect to and interact meaningfully and authentically with our fellow human beings? To this question, the authors answer with a resounding “Yes.”

Overview
The purposes of this paper are twofold. First, we will reexamine David Reisman’s seminal sociological investigation of mid-twentieth century modern life. In 1950, he first published The Lonely Crowd, a penetrating analysis of how and why the social character of most people was changing. In contrast to the Middle Ages dominated by the tradition-directed character type in western societies, the Renaissance spawned the emergence of a second archetype, the inner-directed person. By the twentieth century, inner-directedness as a character orientation was being challenged by a new type, the other-directed individual, largely the consequence of rapid changes wrought by maturing industrial societies. In attempting to refine and extend Reisman’s paradigm for the twenty-first century , the authors will propose a new character type for discussion, the cyber-directed person. This evolving fourth character type, the product of the information revolution, offers a useful construct with important implications in better understanding transforma-tions taking place worldwide in human relationships at all levels.
Second, we will show correlational consequences of the cyber age on (1) the erosion of meaningful human connections and intimacy at the interpersonal level and (2) the isolation, alienation, and psychopathogy being generated for individuals as a result. As with all efforts to initially build and then refine and extend sociological theory, the assertions put forth in this brief discussion, while partially supported by empirical research, should be seen as preliminary and exploratory.



4th Global Conference Monday 19th November - Thursday 22nd November 2007 Salzburg, Austria Conference Programme, Abstracts and Papers
Session 5: Intimacy Chair: Paul Reynolds The Embeddedness of Intimate Relationships: Seafarers’ Partners in Cyberspace Lijun Tang Seafarers International Research Centre, Cardiff University, United Kingdom It has been suggested that the practice of doing intimacy today tends to be self centred. According to Giddens, the self has become a ‘reflexive project’, pursuing self-satisfaction and doing ‘pure relationships’ which last only when involved parties can obtain enough rewards from those relations. Beck and Beck-Germsheim argue that people are forced to be individualized and to make choices for themselves in most respects and most stages of their lives, as a result of which, individuals tend to focus on self-interest in doing intimate relationships and make the latter a ‘normal chaos’. For Bauman, intimate bonds become liquid – in order not to miss the next opportunity to satisfy desires, individuals can detach themselves from one relationship and reattach to another with a high flexibility. These arguments, however, present a too individualistic view of the self, as if individuals are floating-free in doing intimacy. Through a qualitative study, including online observation and face-to-face interviews, of a group of young Chinese seafarers’ partners who form an online network by participating in an online discussion website, this paper shows that these women help each other to sustain attachment bonds with seafarers during difficult times. Seafarers’ long term absence causes lots of predicaments for their partners, such as loneliness, isolation, and lack of communication. When relationships with seafarers are under threat, these seafarer-partners in this network try to encourage each other to be strong, reframe difficult situations in a positive light for each other, and offer advice in tackling the threat. By doing so, seafarers’ partners become more willing to sacrifice themselves and the attachment bonds are thus strengthened. This suggests that social networks have a role to play in sustaining intimate relationships. Download Conference Paper - Reisman’s The Lonely Crowd Revisited: The Loss of Meaningful Human Connections and Intimacy in a Cyber-Directed World James K. Semones & Lilian M. Romero San Jacinto College, Houston, Texas and San Jacinto College, Pasadena, Texas, USA The many benefits of the information revolution are obvious as witnessed by its growing impact on the world. However, is there a “dark side” to the seductive ease of access to web-based “information” and communication that threatens to diminish how we connect to and interact meaningfully and authentically with our fellow human beings? To this question, the authors answer with a resounding “Yes.” Overview The purposes of this paper are twofold. First, we will reexamine David Reisman’s seminal sociological investigation of mid-twentieth century modern life. In 1950, he first published The Lonely Crowd, a penetrating analysis of how and why the social character of most people was changing. In contrast to the Middle Ages dominated by the tradition-directed character type in western societies, the Renaissance spawned the emergence of a second archetype, the inner-directed person. By the twentieth century, inner-directedness as a character orientation was being challenged by a new type, the other-directed individual, largely the consequence of rapid changes wrought by maturing industrial societies. In attempting to refine and extend Reisman’s paradigm for the twenty-first century , the authors will propose a new character type for discussion, the cyber-directed person. This evolving fourth character type, the product of the information revolution, offers a useful construct with important implications in better understanding transforma-tions taking place worldwide in human relationships at all levels. Second, we will show correlational consequences of the cyber age on (1) the erosion of meaningful human connections and intimacy at the interpersonal level and (2) the isolation, alienation, and psychopathogy being generated for individuals as a result. As with all efforts to initially build and then refine and extend sociological theory, the assertions put forth in this brief discussion, while partially supported by empirical research, should be seen as preliminary and exploratory.
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