The Ethics and Economics of Middle Class Romance

This article shows the philosophical kinship between Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft on the subject of love. Though the two major 18th century thinkers are not traditionally brought into conversation with each other, Wollstonecraft and Smith share deep moral concerns about the emerging commercial society. As the new middle class continues to grow along with commerce, vanity becomes an ever more common vice among its members. But a vain person is preoccupied with appearance, status, and flattery—things that get in the way of what Smith and Wollstonecraft regard as the deep human connection they variously describe as love, sympathy, and esteem. Commercial society encourages inequality, Smith argues, and Wollstonecraft points out that this inequality is particularly obvious in the relationships between men and women. Men are vain about their wealth, power and status; women about their appearance. Added to this is the fact that most middle class women are both uneducated and encouraged by the conduct literature of their day to be sentimental and irrational. The combined economic and moral considerations of Wollstonecraft and Smith show that there is very little room for love in commercial society as they conceived it.

     

Workplace Romance: A Justice Analysis

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of several variables on coworker perceptions of fairness regarding workplace romance (WR) management practices.     

The Romance of Leadership Scale and Causal Attributions1

Two empirical studies examined the relationship between individual‐level Romance of Leadership and causal attributions to test and extend the construct validity of the Romance of Leadership Scale. As anticipated, Romance of Leadership significantly predicted attributions to the leader, but not to the situation or the followers. The effect of leader experience on the relationship between Romance of Leadership and attributions was also examined. It was determined that individuals high in Romance of Leadership weigh information about leader experience more heavily than do others. Implications for organizations are discussed.     

Love,Sex, Romance,and Psychoanalytic Goals

There are many ways for people to have meaningful relationships and satisfying lives, which may differ from the implicit Freudian psychoanalytic ideal of the couple that sustains love, intimacy, romance, and genital sexual passion throughout life. An alternative is proposed, based on the work of Harry Stack Sullivan, which examines the ability of the person to find love, sexual satisfaction, security, and happiness in a combination and arrangement that feels satisfying and that allows for interpersonal intimacy without coercing or harming another person. Good clinical work also considers what John Money called the “lovemap,” a cluster of relational and sexual patterning for the individual that can be relatively enduring throughout the lifespan.     

The Arabic Origins of Romance Private Documents

The Christians who lived under Muslim rule in al-Andalus are known as Mozarabs. As immigrants from al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms in the north, Mozarabs are depicted in current historiography as transmitters of Arabic and Muslim culture. Nevertheless, when the Mozarabs were observed by the Christian expansion southward, surprisingly, they are presented as isolated amidst the post-conquest order. Based on the case of Toledo, the first important city conquered by the kingdom of Castile in 1085, the present article shows how the Mozarabs had introduced Muslim notarial practices into the Christian society.     

Review Essay: The Fate of Romance Over Time

Can Love Last? The Fate of Romance Over Time by Stephen A. Mitchell (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2002, 224 pp.)

This review of Stephen Mitchell's posthumously published book details the intelligence, vitality, and emotional depth that so many found in Mitchell as writer, teacher, colleague, analyst, friend, and family member. The review also notes the loss that Mitchell's death brought to the lives of individuals and to the life of the psychoanalytic movement.     

An Examination of the Perceived Fairness of Workplace Romance Policies

Fairness perceptions regarding several workplace romance policies (i.e., no action, counsel, verbal reprimand, written warning, transfer, terminate) applied to different types of couples (e.g., lateral vs. hierarchical) in a variety of situations (e.g., couple's performance improves vs. declines) were examined. We found the counsel policy was perceived more fair than any other policy. Stricter workplace romance policies (verbal reprimand, written warning, transfer) were perceived fair when the couple's performance declined or the romance was highly visible. Taking no action was perceived more fair than any other policy when the couple's performance improved. These results and others are discussed.     

Her Mother Her Self: The Ethics of the Antigone Family Romance

This essay discusses the implications of Irigaray's readings of the Antigone in the construction of a feminist ethics. By focusing on the gaps and intersections between Lacanian psychoanalysis and Hegelian phenomenology as formulative of Irigaray's eventual call for an ethics of sexual difference, 1 emphasize the inevitability of rethinking the functions of historicity, femininity, and maternity in the formation of new models of intersubjectivity.     

Attribution of Influence and Charisma to the Leader: The Romance of Leadership Revisited1

This study examined the impact of performance outcomes, leadership type, leader behaviors, and observers' general belief in the importance of leadership on attributions of influence and charisma to a leader. Subjects (N= 549) read 24 versions of an organizational vignette representing all possible combinations of two performance levels, two leadership roles, and six leader behavior conditions, and were asked to evaluate the leader's level of causal influence and charisma. Results supported and extended Meindl's (1990) claim that observers' tendency to romanticize the role of a specific leader is affected by the group performance outcomes and by observers' general beliefs in the importance of leadership in organizations. The results further suggested that more influence may be attributed to a prototypical leadership role than to a less prototypical role. However, information about leader behaviors did not affect the attributions of influence and charisma to the leader. These results are discussed with reference to Conger and Kanungo's (1987) attributional theory of charismatic leadership and leadership categorization theory (Lord, 1985).     

Autobiographical Memories for Seeing Romantic Movies on a Date: Romance Is Not Just for Women

Two autobiographical memory studies were conducted to better understand the social experience and memory for watching romantic movies on a date. In both studies, participants were primarily middle-class, White, young adults, who (a) recalled the experience of watching a romantic movie they had seen on a date and (b) were assessed for levels of sex-role traditionality and 4 kinds of dispositional empathy. Participants also reported with whom they watched the movie, who chose it, and the cognitions and emotions experienced during viewing. Finally, a fantasy measure asked participants to choose the types of scenes in which they and their dates might like to "stand in" for a character in the film. Results indicated that women more often than men selected the movie and liked it more, but, despite common stereotypes, men also reported favorable ratings for romantic movies seen on a date. However, both men and women thought that "most men" would not like the movie. On the fantasy measure, women underestimated men's preference for appearing in scenes of romance. For multiple measures, participants fell back on gender stereotyping when estimating what people in general, especially men, would like. Study 2 replicated Study 1 (N = 265) with a sample of 45 dating couples.     

The Dark Side of Heterosexual Romance: Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs Relates to Intimate Partner Violence

Romance and control are often conflated by the media, and individuals may believe that certain controlling or jealous behaviors by men toward women are romantic and can be a sign of love and commitment in heterosexual relationships. The current study explored three types of romantic beliefs among women: endorsement of the ideology of romanticism, highly valuing romantic relationships, and the belief that jealousy is good. The goal was to determine whether these beliefs would be related to finding controlling behaviors romantic as well as to reported experiences of both physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). We surveyed 275 heterosexual-identified women, aged 18 to 50, and measured their endorsement of romantic beliefs, the extent to which they romanticized controlling behavior, and experiences of physical and psychological abuse within their current or most recent romantic relationship. Romantic beliefs were related to romanticizing controlling behaviors, which, in turn, was related to experiences of IPV. There was also a significant indirect relationship between romantic beliefs and experiences of IPV. The data indicate that seemingly positive romantic ideologies can have insidious negative effects. Findings may be useful for clinicians and those who advocate for prevention of IPV as they illustrate a need to refocus traditional ideas of healthy relationships at the societal level.     

The Romance of Learning from Disagreement. The Effect of Cohesiveness and Disagreement on Knowledge Sharing Behavior and Individual Performance Within Teams

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of disagreement and cohesiveness on knowledge sharing in teams, and on the performance of individual team members.     

The Blues of Adolescent Romance: Observed Affective Interactions in Adolescent Romantic Relationships Associated with Depressive Symptoms

We examined the associations between observed expressions of positive and negative emotions during conflict discussions and depressive symptoms during a 2-year period in a sample of 160 adolescents in 80 romantic relationships (M age?=?15.48, SD?=?1.16). Conflict discussions were coded using the 10-code Specific Affect Coding System. Depressive symptoms were assessed at the time of the observed conflict discussions (Time 1) and 2 years later (Time 2). Data were analyzed using actor–partner interdependence models. Girls’ expression of both positive and negative emotions at T1 was related to their own depressive symptoms at T2 (actor effect). Boys’ positive emotions and negative emotions (actor effect) and girls’ negative emotions (partner effect) were related to boys’ depressive symptoms at T2. Contrary to expectation, relationship break-up and relationship satisfaction were unrelated to changes in depressive symptoms or expression of negative or positive emotion during conflict discussion. These findings underscore the unique quality of adolescent romantic relationships and suggest new directions in the study of the link between mental health and romantic involvement in adolescence.