Historical and theoretical perspectives: sex, love, and commitment revisited.

A sociology-of-knowledge perspective is used to examine the interplay among sex, love, and commitment within the context of historical trends and social changes. The implications of qualitative and quantitative differences among love, sex and commitment are discussed in relation to (1) the concept of "multiple selves," (2) "individual variations in threshold levels," and (3) the misuse of "ideal types." Clinical and research efforts to differentiate among sex, love, and commitment need to be balanced by explicit awareness of the tendency to compartmentalize these three areas.