An Interdisciplinary Approach to Romantic Relationships in Postmodern Society

In sociology as well as in psychology, autonomy and closeness are considered important for romantic relationships (Illouz, 2012). In psychology, a strong desire for autonomy is usually assumed to be related to dismissive attachment styles which are formed in the history of attachment of the person. In sociology, based on theory and qualitative results, it is argued that people differ in their needs for autonomy and closeness due to a differential internalization of the cultural discourses and the influence of societal circumstances. An interdisciplinary integration of both approaches will be discussed.