An intimacy field framework

Class, habitus and capital in gay relationships

Bibliographic Data

ID3415468
AuthorsSee Pok Loa (0000-0002-7415-0357, University of Oxford), So Yung Choi (0000-0003-3879-2915, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, corresponding author), Susanne Y P Choi
Year2024
Volume72
Issue3
Pages529-547
Publication date2024-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380261231157968
OpenAlexW4322007909
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited42

Using Bourdieu's field theory and extending the sexual field framework, we conceptualise intimacy as fields, that is, configurations of social relations underlying the doing of romantic and sexual relationships. Drawing on a comparative analysis of the intimate relationships of middle- and working-class gay men in Hong Kong, we show that intimacy fields were organised by class-based habitus and inequalities in capital. These factors resulted in class-based homophilous relationship ideals, constructed intimacy fields separated by class boundaries, and shaped the different relationship formation strategies, and differential capabilities in maintaining long-term relationships of working- and middle-class gay men. Participants in cross-class relationships faced challenges related to habitus and capital mismatches, developing strategies to reimagine what was normative and desirable. Added together, the present study shows how social class and intimacy are mutually constituted. On the one hand, class inequalities shape the ideals, formation and maintenance of intimate relationships, and on the other, the doing of intimacy often reproduces class hierarchies and polices class boundaries

Class (philosophy) · Cultural capital · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Habitus · Inequality · Middle class · Normative · Political science · Social capital · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Mathematics · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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