Love in Today's Society A key to understanding sociology and social sciences in general is to evaluate topics through the time and compare and contrast which characteristics have changed and which have remained the same. For this mission, I chose to access three sources dealing with love; in three distinct periods of the modern era. We will first examine one of the earliest popular means of expressing love; that of poetry. I chose a poem by WHAuden to represent the beginning of this century, specifically the 1930s and 1940s. I knew I had to include a song by my idol Jim Morrison. Not only is he the perfect voice of the volatile sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s; His work captures the profile of a rock star who undoubtedly acquired his dominant attitude through the endless worship of submissive women. Finally enter the modern era with an article from my favorite magazine Men's Health about the mistakes a man must avoid to please his lover. As we will see, the increased freedom is very interesting from our first performance to the last. My goal is to show how much love has changed. I hope to show what is accepted in our society today, compared to just a few decades ago. ApplicationMy sources run the gamut of ideas on the subject of love. I think Auden's poem is the best representation of what we call "courtly love." This seems logical, since this type of Romantic-era love was a precursor to what we call modern love. The author assumes the role of troubadour in his singing style praising the qualities of his love. He idealizes his partner and is happy to be in the same room as her. There is no obvious ulterior motive. Auden would be categorized as a “heavenly lover,” in the sense that his love is higher and more sacred. There is, however, a definite contrast with this idealism. In his final lines, the author unreservedly recounts his grief at losing her to someone else. Morrison's Love Her Madly could almost be interpreted as a form of limerance. He has this extreme attachment to his subject: “Don’t you love him madly? Anyone who knows the story of Jim Morrison knows that the theme of love and everything that goes with it was an integral part of his being. He is a good example of love in the context of a superstar artist. Morrison's songs, and most others, found ... middle of paper ... and worked out their difficulties before they exploded. Conclusion It is absolutely true that attitudes towards love have changed over the last decade. Social structures and norms have fluctuated and influenced people's decisions in their own lives as well as their perceptions of others. Many people would rather return to Auden's innocent days when love was seemingly true and had no strings attached. There seems to be a problem with the increasing fragmentation of society when it comes to finding love today. Gone are the days when you married your high school sweetheart and lived happily ever after. Increased mobility and ease of travel have made love more available and open. People today need more help from outside services, such as helplines and help from marriage counselors and physicologists, to resolve their problems. It follows, however, that society is more complex and therefore better. Women have more rights and have more say in society. There is no doubt that women were more exploited in the past than today. Although societal attitudes have changed over time,..