When discussing the phenomenon of marriage and love in contemporary society, the terms "leftover women" and "leftover men" frequently appear in the public eye, which are not only simple labels, but also products of complex socio-economic structures and cultural changes. Some people point out that capital has played an important role in this social change, not only "killing" 100 million so-called "leftover women", but also "belittling" 200 million so-called "leftover men". Such a discourse actually touches on multi-dimensional issues such as gender roles, economic pressures, cultural expectations, and technological progress.
Capital and the Reconstruction of Gender Roles
First, the way capital operates reshapes gender roles and expectations to a certain extent. With the development of the market economy, women's education level and professional status have been significantly improved, and more and more women have performed well in the workplace and are financially independent, thus having more independent choices in the marriage market. This phenomenon has been interpreted by some voices as "slaughter", which means that capital has made some women pay more attention to personal development and quality of life by providing career promotion, consumption temptation and other channels, and have a more cautious attitude towards the traditional marriage model.
Economic Stress and the Male Dilemma
At the same time, the socio-economic pressures faced by men are increasing. Under the traditional gender role framework, men are usually expected to be the main breadwinners of the family, but in the context of high housing prices and the increasing cost of living, many ordinary men find it difficult to meet this economic requirement, so they are in a relatively disadvantageous position in the marriage market. This phenomenon has been described as "devaluing", reflecting that under the logic of capital, economic ability has become an important criterion for evaluating men, which indirectly leads to the aggravation of the phenomenon of "leftover men".
Technology and emotional substitution
Technological advances, especially the application of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology, have provided people with new ways to experience emotions. The emergence of virtual companions, emotional robots and other products has provided some people with alternatives to real partners, which not only meets emotional needs, but also reduces people's sense of urgency to find real partners. To a certain extent, this trend reflects the re-examination of traditional interpersonal relationships and the coping strategies of loneliness in modern people, but it may also exacerbate the sense of alienation between individuals and the tendency of "no marriage and no love" in society as a whole.
The deep influence of social structures
Behind these phenomena are deep-seated changes in the social structure. On the one hand, the definition of success in society is more diverse, and personal happiness is no longer solely bound to marriage and family; on the other hand, the intensification of social competition and rising economic pressure have made more and more people choose to postpone or give up marriage and have children, and instead pursue the realization of personal value and the improvement of quality of life.
Capital does play a catalytic role in this set of social phenomena, but it may be an oversimplification to place all the blame on capital. What is really needed is an in-depth analysis of the economic, cultural, psychological and other factors behind it, and on this basis, explore how to build a more inclusive, pluralistic view of marriage and love and social support system that can adapt to the changes in modern society. In this process, the freedom and respect of individual choice, the promotion of gender equality, the optimization of the economic structure, and the consideration of the ethics of science and technology are all indispensable elements.