Commitment - Let's Commit it to the Dustbin

So it occurs to me that if in fact there is no reason to punish people for leaving LTCRs, then in fact the concept of an LTCR is basically defunct. If our expectation is that a person should stay in an LTCR if and only if he/she is happier in the LTCR than outside of it, then there is no meaningful commitment. The commitment is just to stick around until it's no longer advantageous to do so, and that is no commitment at all.

This clarifies a lot of things for me. I formerly believed that LTCRs were an important social institution, but this is a difficult position to maintain if in fact they are indistinguishable from uncommitted sexual relationships. It now occurs to me that the real difference between an LTCR and an uncommitted sexual relationship is that the former is the label we give to the behavior of privileged people, while the latter is the label that we give to the behavior of people against whom there is still residual stigma. What is really going on is a sort of class struggle in which the upper class perpetuates the myth of its own superiority (by pointing to its stable marriages, low rates of teen pregnancy, etc.). The concept of fidelity is a cudgel in the culture/class wars. False consciousness and class solidarity have led some affluent liberals to embrace the language of commitment and loyalty, but hopefully soon the illusion will be exploded.