Overview
“Cold intimacies” is a concept proposed by Eva Illouz that refers to the way interpersonal connections are mapped onto transactional frameworks and intangible aspects of lived human experience are treated as commodities. Illouz posits that cold intimacies are a byproduct of the intersection between industrialized bureaucracies, institutions of psychological management, and socioeconomic conditions under capitalism.
If this sounds abstract, think about the last time that a boss or manager referred to the company as a supportive family and extolled the virtues of workplace productivity as a source of existential fulfillment. These only superficially cover the contractual arrangement underlying the labor agreements of the workplace for the sake of promoting a sense of psychological wellbeing. Nothing about the emotional and empathetic expressions we observe from others in the workplace provides security against a contract that allows you to be fired from the family if the cost of supporting you no longer justifies itself.
Commentary
Severance
Severance tackles the absurdity of cold intimacies taken to the extreme, where a company fully takes on the role of a guardian that defines the parameters of the world and relationships individuals experience.