The theory of erotic capital
April 12, 2010Jon Brooks Comments OffSome academic research is obviously very dry, but boy, some isn’t. From the March 19, 2010 issue of European Sociological Review:
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Erotic Capital
by Catherine Hakim, Department of Sociology, London School of Economic
Introduction
We present a new theory of erotic capital as a fourth personal asset, an important addition to economic, cultural, and social capital. Erotic capital has six, or possibly seven, distinct elements, one of which has been characterized as ‘emotional labour’. Erotic capital is increasingly important in the sexualized culture of affluent modern societies. Erotic capital is not only a major asset in mating and marriage markets, but can also be important in labour markets, the media, politics, advertising, sports, the arts, and in everyday social interaction. Women generally have more erotic capital than men because they work harder at it. Given the large imbalance between men and women in sexual interest over the life course, women are well placed to exploit their erotic capital. A central feature of patriarchy has been the construction of ‘moral’ ideologies that inhibit women from exploiting their erotic capital to achieve economic and social benefits. Feminist theory has been unable to extricate itself from this patriarchal perspective and reinforces ‘moral’ prohibitions on women’s sexual, social, and economic activities and women’s exploitation of their erotic capital.
Madonna flaunted it in her Sex book, and still has it at 50. Jesus Luz, her toyboy lover, clearly has it, but it is rather easier at 22 years. Pierce Brosnan has it, even as he ages, long after dropping the James Bond role. Catherine Deneuve still has it, remaining sexually attractive after she reached 60. The sexy, energetic singer Tina Turner, with her fabulous legs and erotic voice, still had it at in her 50s. The commodity is erotic capital, to which sociological and economic theory have been blind, despite its palpable importance in all spheres of social life. Writers and artists are very sensitive to it. Shakespeare captured it nicely when describing Cleopatra: ‘Age cannot wither her, nor custom dull her infinite variety.’ The expanding importance of self-service mating and marriage markets, speed dating, and Internet dating contributes to the increasing value of erotic capital in the 21st century. Sociology must rise to the challenge of incorporating erotic capital into theory and empirical research.
This paper presents a theory of erotic capital and its applications in studies of social mobility, the labour market, mating, and other topics. We argue that erotic capital is just as important as economic, cultural, and social capital for understanding social and economic processes, social interaction, and social mobility. It is essential for analysing sexuality and sexual relationships. There are difficulties of measurement, but these are no greater than for social capital. In sexualized individualized modern societies, erotic capital becomes more important and more valorized, for both men and women. However, women have a longer tradition of developing and exploiting it, and studies regularly find women to have greater erotic appeal than men. We ask why erotic capital has been overlooked as an asset in sociological theory. The oblivion of the social sciences to this factor suggests that a patriarchal bias still remains in these disciplines. As women generally have more erotic capital than men, so men deny it exists or has value, and have taken steps to ensure that women cannot legitimately exploit their relative advantage. Feminists have reinforced ‘moral’ objections to the deployment of erotic capital….
