Romance in times of crisis: Contingent social synchronization in accelerated love markets

This work extends Rosa’s theory of social acceleration drawing on empirical findings from a qualitative study of online dating. Due to an involuntary deceleration in the pace of life during the COVID-19 crisis, online dating platforms moved from being accelerated love markets where competitive consumers made short-term exchanges, to supportive networks that helped them establish long-term relationships. This transformation occurred because consumers experienced contingent social synchronization—a process of temporal realignment after an unexpected desynchronization in pace of life, technological change, and social change. In contingent social synchronization, online daters modified their interactions and unexpectedly formed stronger bonds within these accelerated markets, transforming their patterns of time investment and their temporal perception of love. The implications of contingent social synchronization are discussed for the functioning of love markets, therapeutic confessions, and consumption during crises.