Dating apps are, moreover, the products-and exemplars-of neoliberal Western society, offering social scientists insight into broader socio?political and economic sensibilities, as well as the historical conditions that are at play in shaping people’s efforts at intimacy (Illouz, 2007; Liu, 2016). Dating websites (as precursors to mobile dating) and now mobile dating apps have been examined for the ways they have been predicated on the model of the free market, whereby people are simultaneously positioned as (willing) consumers and products for romantic and sexual consumption (see, in particular, Bauman, 2003; Illouz, 2007; Liu, 2016; Schmitz & Zillmann, 2016). For example, apps can promote illusions of availability and choice for a person to swipe through other users’ profiles, thus seemingly positioning people as commodities to be selected or disposed of (Beauchamp et al., 2017; Blackwell et al., 2015; David & Cambre, 2016; Duguay et al., 2017; Race, 2015). Additionally, the creation and maintenance of dating profiles, like other forms of social media activity and app usage (Goodwin & Lyons, 2019; Lupton, 2014, 2018, 2019a), also produces highly curated digital versions of people (Blackwell et al., 2015; Illouz, 2007; Ranzini & Lutz, 2017).
Indeed, people who use dating apps have been found to engage in highly strategic performances as they search for and create ‘networked intimacy’ with others (David & Cambre, 2016; Hobbs et al., 2017). Continue reading “5. NEW TERRAIN IN MOBILE DATING RESEARCH: ENTANGLEMENTS OF RISK, AFFECT, AND DISCURSIVE AGENCY”