ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some questions whether and to what extent there are risks and opportunities in love having become the predominant second-order form, and thereby provide a critical perspective on love as a second-order form and its repercussions in the social sphere. In the nineteenth century, Marx and Engels argued that the family is a central institution to the development of capitalism, especially for its capacity to accumulate and reproduce private property across generations. The chapter describes about intimacy-based relations between researchers foster the readiness to think beyond disciplinary horizons, to engage with each other beyond personal interests, individual desires and fears, and allow the exploration of academic terrains that might be risky or dangerous. There is huge political and social potential in thinking academia in these terms, as within the moral economy of love, there is the chance for a fight against the neo-liberalisation of academic work.
