Love in Crisis? How Young Women’s Ideas and Experiences of Intimate Relationships are Reshaped by Conditions of Economic Austerity in Greece

Abstract

This study seeks to examine intimate relationships and attitudes towards such ties, among Greek young women (n = 36). In the wake of challenging structural situations surrounding the effects of economic austerity in Greece, the accounts of these young women are understood with reference to their options on finding and sustaining intimate relationships. It is argued that these accounts are filtered by the conditions of austerity, leading some women to question traditional ideas of patriarchy, gender norms and the desirability of maintaining ties with economically inactive men. However, the language through which the young women articulated experiences and attitudes towards intimate relations is highly individualising. These issues are assessed in the context of research on emerging adulthood focusing on how attitudes and practices relating to intimacy can be re-shaped through economic contexts.