ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the politics of monogamy in the wider context of sexuality, the family, and broader relationships in capitalist society. As Ford and Beach noted, 'sociologists recognize the integrating, cohesive functioning of sex as contributing to the stability of the family unit and thus to the entire structure of the social group'. Indeed, the dominant model of marriage in the West rests on the 'ideal of lifelong monogamy and intimacy'. The strictures of monogamy in much of the West mean that couplings are inevitably filled with many trials and tribulations, particularly when alienation and commodification are thrown in to the cocktail. The combined impacts of capitalism mean that, for those who long for something more than a candle-lit dinner for two and 'happily ever after', relationships can never reach anywhere near their full potential. As a result, people who engage in swinging or polyamorous relationships often have to 'come out' to family members about their shocking secret.
