Talk of Love: How Culture Matters Book

Swidler's central argument in Talk of Love is that culture is used as a resource and that its uses vary. She suggests that this variation exists not only between individuals but also within individuals, with people drawing more on cultural resources at some points in time than others. She also argues that culture works from two directions, the "inside out" and the "outside in." Swidler uses interviews about love with eighty-eight middle-class Americans, ages twenty to sixty, to evaluate general ideas about how culture works.

It was interesting reading about the contradictions inherent in American's ideas bout love. Swidler suggests two cultures of love exist and operate simultaneously, the mythic view and the prosaic/realist view. Definitely not a romantic read and more geared towards academics, so don't let the cover throw you off.