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우리는 일반적으로 정서적인 친밀함과 경제적 행위를 매우 다른 범주로 생각한다. 이를테면 부모 자식, 친구 등 인간관계에 금전적인 문제가 끼어들면 불경스럽게 여기며 친밀함이 훼손된다고 생각한다. 하지만 친밀함과 경제적인 행위는 아주 밀접하게 연관되어 있으며 우리 일상생활에서 끊임없이 교차한다.

저자는 이 두 영역이 교차하는 많은 경우들에 대해서 이야기한다. 좀 더 구체적으로 사람들 사이의 관계에서 친밀성과 경제가 교차할 때 일어날 수 있는 일상적인 사건들과 법적 분쟁 사이의 관련성을 분석함으로써 우리가 어떻게 경제 활동을 통해 다른 사람들과 중요한 관계, 특히 친밀한 관계를 창출하고 유지하며 재협상하게 되는지를 보여준다.

이러한 맥락에서 볼 때 이 책은 가정 내에서의 관계, 돌봄, 사랑 등의 친밀성과 경제적 행위가 혼합되는 것을 걱정하는 전통적인 시각에 대한 자극제로서, 새로운 통찰을 제시한다고 하겠다. 더욱이 최근 한국 사회의 ‘돌봄’이 사회적. 학문적 이슈로서 활발히 논의되는 상황에서 좀더 광범위한 친밀성에 대한 숙고는 더욱 의미 있는 작업이 될 것이다.

In their personal lives, people consider it essential to separate economics and intimacy. We have, for example, a long-standing taboo against workplace romance, while we see marital love as different from prostitution because it is not a fundamentally financial exchange. In The Purchase of Intimacy, Viviana Zelizer mounts a provocative challenge to this view. Getting to the heart of one of life's greatest taboos, she shows how we all use economic activity to create, maintain, and renegotiate important ties?especially intimate ties?to other people.

In everyday life, we invest intense effort and worry to strike the right balance. For example, when a wife's income equals or surpasses her husband's, how much more time should the man devote to household chores or child care? Sometimes legal disputes arise. Should the surviving partner in a same-sex relationship have received compensation for a partner's death as a result of 9/11?

Through a host of compelling examples, Zelizer shows us why price is central to three key areas of intimacy: sexually tinged relations; health care by family members, friends, and professionals; and household economics. She draws both on research and materials ranging from reports on compensation to survivors of 9/11 victims to financial management Web sites and advice books for same-sex couples.

From the bedroom to the courtroom, The Purchase of Intimacy opens a fascinating new window on the inner workings of the economic processes that pervade our private lives.

In their personal lives, people consider it essential to separate economics and intimacy. We have, for example, a long-standing taboo against workplace romance, while we see marital love as different from prostitution because it is not a fundamentally financial exchange. In The Purchase of Intimacy, Viviana Zelizer mounts a provocative challenge to this view. Getting to the heart of one of life's greatest taboos, she shows how we all use economic activity to create, maintain, and renegotiate important ties--especially intimate ties--to other people.


In everyday life, we invest intense effort and worry to strike the right balance. For example, when a wife's income equals or surpasses her husband's, how much more time should the man devote to household chores or child care? Sometimes legal disputes arise. Should the surviving partner in a same-sex relationship have received compensation for a partner's death as a result of 9/11?


Through a host of compelling examples, Zelizer shows us why price is central to three key areas of intimacy: sexually tinged relations; health care by family members, friends, and professionals; and household economics. She draws both on research and materials ranging from reports on compensation to survivors of 9/11 victims to financial management Web sites and advice books for same-sex couples.


From the bedroom to the courtroom, The Purchase of Intimacy opens a fascinating new window on the inner workings of the economic processes that pervade our private lives.

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