The paper explores the possibilities for research of Eva Illouz’s concept “ontological uncertainty” in intimate relations which describes the vulnerabilities inherent in late-modern love relationships by applying it to young people. The aim is to propose methodological strategies for applying the concept to analysis of the practices of intimacy of young people.
Paper long abstract:
The paper explores the concept of “ontological uncertainty” in intimate relations as formulated by Eva Illouz in her book “The End of Love” (2019). Eva Illouz defines ontological uncertainty as “uncertainty about the worth, the value, and ultimately the nature of the self”. She claims that it is in the center of contemporary heterosexual relations and is deeply related to their instability and volatility. The paper explores the methodological possibilities of the concept “ontological uncertainty” by applying it to a small-scale pilot study of the intimate relations of young people in Bulgaria. The aim is threefold – first, to explore the young people’s experiences of uncertainty in their intimate relations, second, to outline the ways in which these experiences they are tied to the economic, social, digital and cultural realities in the lives of young people and third, to analyze how they relate to their identities and feelings of self-worth. The results show that ontological uncertainty is integrated in the intimate lives of young people and that they have developed strategies for navigating its multiple manifestations.