Agape Love and Values in the Love Relationships of Young People in Contemporary Croatian Society

U ovom radu prikazat će se kako fenomen ljubavi doživljavaju te iskustveno oblikuju mladi u suvremenom hrvatskom društvu. Sociologija ljubavi proučava ljubav u odnosu na društvo i kulturu u kojoj se živi. Osim što danas postoje mnogobrojni oblici ljubavi, brojni autori različito objašnjavaju suvremena kretanja ljubavnih odnosa. Ljubavni odnosi, iako dominantno emocionalno određeni, u modernome svijetu neodvojivi su od globalnih društvenih i kulturnih utjecaja. U istraživanju se koristila kvalitativna metodologija, a odgovorilo se na pitanje koje su vrednote dominantne u ljubavnim vezama mladih. Prije svega, u radu se nastojao i identificirati stil voljenja prisutan kod mladih - je li ono težnja za idealom agape ljubavi ili su ljubavni odnosi vrednovani kao pitanje osobnog zadovoljstva te kao takvi podložni nekim modernim procesima, poput komodifikacije i komercijalizacije. Istraživanje je provedeno na desetero sudionika, u dobi od 24. do 30. godine života. Tijekom provođenja polustrukturiranih intervjua, korištena je i metoda utemeljena u umjetnosti (art-based research) kako bi se sudionici potaknuli na razgovor o odabranim temama.This paper will examine how the phenomenon of love is experienced and experientially shaped by young people in contemporary Croatian society. The sociology of love studies love in relation to the society and culture in which one lives. Apart from the fact that there are many forms of love today, many authors differently explain the contemporary movements of love relationships. Love relationships, although predominantly emotionally determined, are inseparable from global social and cultural influences in the modern world. The research used a qualitative methodology, and answered the question of which values are dominant in the love relationships of young people. First of all, the paper sought to identify the style of love present among young people - whether it is the pursuit of the ideal of agape love or whether love relationships are valued as a matter of personal satisfaction and as such subject to some modern processes such as commodification and commercialization. The study was conducted on ten participants, aged 24 to 30 years. During the semi-structured interviews, arts-based research was also used to encourage participants to discuss selected topics