Review: Aaron Ben-Ze'ev (2004). Love Online. Emotions on the Internet

Authors

  • Nicola Döring TU Ilmenau

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-6.1.538

Keywords:

Internet, computer-mediated communication, love, online-love, sexuality, cybersex, marriage, monogamy, infidelity, interviews

Abstract

This monograph, by Aaron ZE'EV, Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Emotions at the University of Haifa, deals with the peculiarities of romantic love and sexual desire on the Internet. The author interprets the topic as a special case within his research area, namely the study of emotions in everyday life. Online love and cybersex are conceptualized as ambivalent, if not paradoxical, phenomena. According to ZE'EV, computer-mediated interpersonal interactions provide an intermediate area of experiencing that lies between solitary fantasy and social reality. The author does not present new data, but refers to a variety of published papers, mostly based on personal narratives and semi-structured interviews. Due to unrestrained online experiences, ZE'EV predicts an increase in erotic and romantic flexibility that might degrade the institution of marriage. The book presents a fruitful overview of research from a philosophical point of view. The author's effort to conceptually systemize the experience of online love and cybersex unfortunately sometimes leads to simplification. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0501141

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Author Biography

Nicola Döring, TU Ilmenau

Nicola DÖRING, Prof. Dr. phil., Dipl.-Psych., arbeitet als Professorin für Medienkonzeption und Medienpsychologie an der TU Ilmenau. Zu ihren Forschungsschwerpunkten gehören die sozialen Aspekte der Online- und Mobilkommunikation, Genderfragen, Lernen und Lehren mit neuen Medien sowie Evaluationsforschung. Nicola DÖRING hat in FQS bereits besprochen: in einer Sammelrezension "Soziale Netzwerke und Internet-Spielewelten" (http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-01/3-01review-doering-d.htm) und "Soziale Identifikation mit virtuellen Gemeinschaften" (http://qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-01/3-01review-doering-d.htm), "Technogene Nähe. Ethnographische Studien zur Mediennutzung im Alltag" (http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-02/2-02review-doering-d.htm), "Geschlechterforschung und qualitative Methoden2 (http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-01/3-01review-doering2-d.htm) "Online-Mediation. Neue Medien in der Konfliktvermittlung – mit Beispielen aus Politik und Wirtschaft" (http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-04/1-04review-doering-d.htm).

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Published

2005-01-31

How to Cite

Döring, N. (2005). Review: Aaron Ben-Ze’ev (2004). Love Online. Emotions on the Internet. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-6.1.538

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2005): Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data

Section

FQS Reviews

License

Copyright (c) 2005 Nicola Döring

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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