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The Tenacity of the Couple-Norm
20 September 2021
The latest episode of 'Talking Europe', the UCL European Institute's podcast, features Sasha Roseneil and colleagues, exploring why so many of us think they should be in a couple.
Do you have to be in a couple to be a successful adult? In this episode of Talking Europe, we ask how norms around coupledom differ across Europe and how they have changed in recent decades.
The EI’s Claudia Sternberg is joined by Prof. Sasha Roseneil, Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science in the IAS, and UCL’s Dean of Social and Historical Sciences, to discuss her latest book ‘The Tenacity of the Couple-Norm: Intimate citizenship regimes in a changing Europe’ (UCL Press, 2020). You’ll also hear from Sasha’s four co-authors and collaborators for this book:
- Dr Isabel Crowhurst, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Essex,
- Prof. Tone Hellesund, Professor in Cultural Studies, University of Bergen, Norway,
- Dr Ana Cristina Santos, Senior Researcher, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal,
- Dr Mariya Stoilova, Researcher, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics.
Together we explore how laws, policies and social institutions in the UK, Bulgaria, Norway and Portugal shape our our desires and imaginations, making us want to be in a couple. You’ll also encounter some life stories of individual persons and how they navigate the couple norm.
‘The Tenacity of the Couple-Norm: Intimate citizenship regimes in a changing Europe’ is available as a free e-book and as paperback and hardback from UCL Press.
Podcast editing by Patrick Robinson.
