Indywidualizm czy kolektywizm. Obecność elementów dyskursu indywidualizmu w postrzeganiu miłości i związków przez przedstawicieli pokolenia Z – wyniki badania jakościowego

Discourse, understood as language practices, sets the boundaries of perceiving the world and plays a critical role in organizing cultural and social practices. Individualism discourse seems to dominate and reveal itself in many areas of life. Love and relationships are examples of such a field, as it depends greatly on social agreements and products of culture. This article will present the results of a research conducted in 2019 and 2020, which was an outcome of the observation of seemingly independent communication discourses: individualism discourse and love discourses. The former is heavily supported by the rapid development of new media and may bring potential changes in the ways of perceiving love and the behavioral patterns connected to romantic relationships. The research of a qualitative nature was conducted on a sample of 10 members of Generation Z. Individual in-depth interviews and meaningfocused discourse analysis allowed to explore how individualism discourse manifests itself in the communication of the given generation regarding love and relationships. As the research shows, individualism discourse reveals itself in Generation Z’s perception of love and relationship, especially in terms of expectations and lack of universal rules, although its effect is not always predictable.