Today’s society is characterized by an accelerated pace of life, which does not allow us to enjoy the small details of daily life. This has been extrapolated to the world of romantic relationships, which together with the constant change shown by social networks and the lack of commitment, have turned love into a superficial concept.
Therefore, in the Online Psychology article we inform you about the Liquid love: what it is, characteristics and examples. Of course, taking as a reference Bauman’s theory of liquid love, who develops this concept about the fragility of human bonds.
What is liquid love?
The concept “liquid love” was designated by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. Liquid love refers to the superficiality of relationships sentimental feelings and the fragility of the emotional roots that we tend to establish.
What does Bauman say about love? According to Zygmunt, the objective of this type of love is to be able to remain constantly changing without having relationships that tie us down. This concept not only describes relationships with others, but also highlighted the liquidity of love with ourselves.
In today’s society, we find liquid love as an example in the search for a partner in order to have someone to serve as a support. Emotional Support. However, we do not stop to think that it is necessary to first accept and love ourselves, in order to deeply love another person.
Therefore, on many occasions, relationships end up becoming relationships characterized by emotional dependence, instead of being a source of emotional well-being. In order to create healthy relationships it is necessary that we build a strong self-esteem that does not depend on the external evaluation of others, as described by Bauman’s postulates on liquid love.
What are the characteristics of liquid love
To understand what liquid love is, we must first take into account what the bonds of liquid society are like, whose main characteristics are the following:
- Value of present experiences.
- Lack of compromise.
- Need for freedom.
- Punctual and not very responsible consumption.
- Immediate satisfaction.
- Emotional disengagement.
- Fragility of relationships.
- Superficial links.
- Physical attraction.
- Individualism.
- Vacuum sensation.
- Extrinsic motivations.
- Commodification of relationships.
Possible causes of liquid love
According to sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, liquid love about the fragility of human bonds has multiple causes, among them the following stand out:
- Limiting beliefs: Negative thoughts that we are not worthy or capable of having a healthy and deep romantic relationship limit us from finding someone who accepts that bond.
- Low self-esteem: Insecurities and low self-esteem determine that we do not have enough emotional maturity to be able to connect deeply with another person, thus giving ourselves liquid love. However, if we work on ourselves we will be able to evolve emotionally and understand well what commitment is and what it implies.
- Lack of freedom: The fear of feeling tied and having to make decisions taking another person into account gives us the feeling of lack of freedom. This lack of freedom scares us and prevents us from establishing deeper sentimental bonds.
Examples of liquid love
Below, several examples of liquid love are mentioned, in order to better understand what this concept consists of:
- Immediate satisfaction. This example of liquid love is about those people who have sexual relations with a person to whom they feel physically attracted, solely for immediate bodily satisfaction.
- Superficiality. People who create a sentimental bond superficially through social networks without even having met in person.
- Fear of compromise. Liquid love also occurs in cases where people know each other and get along well, but do not want to make the relationship official to avoid commitment.
- Longing for freedom. People who want to have a relationship but decide to label it as an “open relationship” to avoid the feeling of lack of freedom. This is also an example of liquid love according to Zygmunt Bauman’s theory.
- Insubstantial links. People who maintain a relationship but avoid establishing a deep emotional bond, in case they are attracted to another person and can allow themselves to have sexual relations with them.
Consequences of liquid love
The consequences that arise from liquid love regarding the fragility of human bonds can be both emotional and behavioral, the following can be highlighted:
- Reification: The fact of considering the other person as a product to be consumed nullifies human value and encourages the treatment of the person as a mere object to be tried.
- Abuse: this consequence is closely linked to reification. Since, if we take away the human value, we think that we have the right to do with that person whatever we want. Sexual and/or power abuse arise from this type of beliefs.
- Emotional dissatisfaction: If we maintain such superficial relationships, we fail to create a real sentimental bond, which may imply the absence of emotional support.
- Waste of time: When love is characterized by the fragility of the bond, the time we invest in building said relationship is wasted time since we know in advance that it has an expiration date.
- Decreases self-esteem: The fact of not feeling important to the other person creates insecurities in us that encourage the appearance of limiting beliefs about the lack of worth.
If at any point in your life you feel that the romantic relationship you are in is a relationship characterized by liquid love, it is important that you stop to reflect on whether that is the type of relationship you want.
Likewise, if you have been able to identify this type of love and you don’t know how to manage it, and it even makes you uncomfortable, don’t be afraid. ask a professional for help of psychology that equips you with the necessary tools to make the best decisions about your relationship.
You may be interested in knowing more about love and how it is understood according to various fields and theories. If so, we recommend you consult our post about .
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Spirit Avila, AR (2021). Zygmunt Bauman’s Concept of Liquid Love: A Critical Examination. Available at: https://cybertesis.unmsm.edu.pe/handle/20.500.12672/16805
- Tamayo, JJ (2017). Zygmunt Bauman: Postmodernity, liquid life, liquid love. ContraPunto digital newspaper. Available at: https://www.sancarlosborromeo.org/docs/Zygmunt%20Bauman%20posmodernidad,%20vida%20li%cc%81quida,%20amor%20li%cc%81quido.pdf