Online dating: The tensions between romantic love and economic rationalization

This paper will at first show how romantic love and economic rationality have emerged in modernity as two distinct spheres, which are characterized by their own normative principles, expectations and practical orientations - two spheres that have systematically been opposed in sociological tradition. In a second part, it will be analyzed how these two distinct sets of normative principles and practical orientations are both introduced into the field of online dating. This leads to the third part which investigates on an empirical basis how people deal with the ambivalences and tensions between these different orientations in the practice of online dating. Finally, a short conclusion questions if the boundaries between love and the market are being blurred or, in a fragile way, re-established on the Internet today.