The Collapse of Romantic Love

Consumer Relations and the Dissolution of Affective Bonds

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30962/ecomps.3180

Keywords:

Affective Consumption, Micro-history, Micro-memory, Digital ethnography, Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This article analyzes how affective consumption reshapes interpersonal bonds in contemporary society, through a microhistory study (Ginzburg, 2006) anchored in public ethnography (Goffman, 1959), based on digital and offline observation of a 30-year-old man. The methodology combines Critical Discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2001) with the notion of self-performance (Goffman, 1959), highlighting practices of self-image management, the ephemerality of bonds, and strategies of affective discardability. The findings demonstrate how market logic, internalized in everyday interactions and forms of exposure, dissolves real connections and reconfigures social memory.

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Author Biographies

Cintia Coelho da Silva, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil

Doutoranda em Educação, Arte e História da Cultura na Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, mestre em História pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) e graduada em História pela mesma instituição. Pós-graduada em Comunicação Corporativa, com MBA em Marketing pela Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV-SP).

Isabel Orestes Silveira , Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil

Doutora em Comunicação e Semiótica pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), mestre em Artes Visuais pelo Instituto de Artes da Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Bacharel e licenciada em Pedagogia pela Universidade São Marcos. Bacharel em Educação Artística pela Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie. Docente da Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, vinculada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Arte e História da Cultura.

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Published

16-07-2025

How to Cite

Coelho da Silva, C., & Silveira , I. O. (2025). The Collapse of Romantic Love: Consumer Relations and the Dissolution of Affective Bonds. E-Compós, 28. https://doi.org/10.30962/ecomps.3180

Issue

Vol. 28 (2025): E-Compós 2025

Section

Artigos Originais

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Copyright (c) 2025 Cintia Coelho, Isabel Orestes Silveira

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