The Architecture of Intimacy: Technology, Inequality, and the Transformation of Young Adult Relationships 6 views

This dissertation explores the impact of technology on young adults’ intimate relationships. Drawing on 50 interviews conducted in two cities, I argue that socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged young adults exhibit distinctive cultural logics of intimacy. The socioeconomically advantaged participants in my sample exhibited a pattern of what I call—borrowing from Annette Lareau (2011)—"concerted connectivity," a highly structured and systematic approach to romance where they used technology to carefully organize the rhythms of their intimate lives. The socioeconomically disadvantaged participants, on the other hand, preferred what I call "the accomplishment of natural connections," a less systematic, more spontaneous approach to dating where relationships emerged from the flow of regular social life. Even when disadvantaged young adults cultivated relationships through technological means, they tended to seek out platforms that offered the kinds of organic romantic connections that emerged from shared interests or mutual friendships, rather than the common interest in romance that unites users of dating apps—a process that I call "unintended technologies of connection." While dating apps have the potential to foster romantic connections across social classes, this dissertation suggests that they are instruments of inequality. The divergent experiences of my advantaged and disadvantaged respondents, however, are not simply the product of different levels of capital or individual skill differences; the individuals in my sample are not simply better or worse at using technology, they have distinct sets of values and dispositions that result in differential levels of recognition on dating apps. The divergent approaches of these young adults—and the differential recognition and legitimacy they are granted—are likely to exacerbate inequalities in intimate life so long as the Internet remains the predominant mode of meeting romantic partners for heterosexual young adults.

PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Technology; Inequality; Relationships; Dating apps

English

2026-04-30