A Survey on Love Led by Alicante Leadership

What significance does love hold in Spanish society? A survey by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), led by Professor Juan Antonio Roche from the University of Alicante, seeks answers to this premise.

The Professor of Sociology and Culture of the Arts coordinates this survey conducted by the CIS across the national territory with a sample of four thousand interviews.

This ambitious work aims to understand the place love occupies in citizens' lives, considering both its emotional dimension and its social and cultural significance.

The research starts from a broad and inclusive definition of love, understood as the willingness to establish a shared emotional project, whether in traditional relationships or other models like polyamory.

From a sociological perspective, the study distinguishes between two major types of love: romantic, with an idealistic and stable component, and confluent, characterized by immediacy and transience.

The survey also considers a wide range of sociocultural variables that may influence affective relationships: age, gender, educational level, social class, political ideology, economic capacity, and religion.

The questionnaire's structure analyses aspects such as the characteristics of love, its duration, its phases, the conflicts it undergoes, and its connection with common projects.

According to Roche Cárcel, love "requires actions, phases, and conflicts, and forms a key social structure to understand not only interpersonal relationships but also the level of happiness of Spaniards."

Among the questions sought to be answered are whether young and old perceive love differently, if this sentiment remains significant in contemporary society, if affective relationships are experienced equally between genders, or if love is conditioned by consumption and ideology.

This is the first time Professor Roche Cárcel collaborates with the CIS as the author of a survey, addressing a topic of high social sensitivity from an academic perspective.

His participation reinforces the role of the University of Alicante as a reference in the analysis of complex and highly topical social phenomena.

The study's results, to be revealed in the coming months, will allow a deep understanding of how love manifests and transforms in 21st-century Spain, and what role it plays in the construction of individual and collective identity.