It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since Leslie Knope and her band of merry misfits came into this world with the award-winning television docu-comedy Parks & Recreation. Harder still to believe that their tenure as Pawnee, Indiana’s most heartwarmingly dysfunctional mid-level bureaucrats is over. As the old folks say, time flies when you’re having […]
Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
288Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
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Overview
Klinenberg shows that most single dwellers—whether in their twenties or eighties—are deeply engaged in social and civic life. There's even evidence that people who live alone enjoy better mental health and have more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. Drawing on more than three hundred in-depth interviews, Klinenberg presents a revelatory examination of the most significant demographic shift since the baby boom and offers surprising insights on the benefits of this epochal change.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781101559802 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 02/02/2012 |
Sold by: | Penguin Group |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 288 |
Sales rank: | 267,894 |
File size: | 393 KB |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Singleton Society 1
1 Going Solo 29
2 The Capacity to Live Alone 57
3 Separating 85
4 Protecting the Self 109
5 Together Alone 131
6 Aging Alone 157
7 Redesigning Solo Life 185
Conclusion 211
Appendix: Methods of Research and Analysis 235
Notes 239
Select Bibliography 255
Acknowledgments 265
Index 267
What People are Saying About This
Eric Klinenberg has written a searching book on living alone. He shows the depth of this experience in modern society, its richness as well as its pains. Going Solo gives a fresh slant to debates about the organization of cities, and illuminates the philosophic quest to understand solitude. Klinenberg writes to communicate, rather than to impress. A necessary book. (Richard Sennett, author of Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation
“Klinenberg convincingly argues that the convergence of mass urbanization, communications technology, and liberalized attitudes has driven this trend.”
Eric Klinenberg's Going Solo is a tour de forcea book that is relevant, engaging, and deeply insightful. An increasing number of Americans are living by themselves, whether as twentysomethings or eightysomethings. Klinenberg tears down the myths that surround living alone, creates a nuanced picture that celebrates the advantages, and details the challenges of going solo. This is a fascinating volume that infuses serious social-science research with captivating personal stories. (Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City; Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University)
“Going Solo brilliantly explores an overlooked phenomenon with significant implications, and debunks longstanding cultural myths that have prevented us from understanding the rise of living alone. Instead of lamenting the decline of community, Klinenberg calls attention to the innovative ways we’re connecting with others while also creating space for reflection and personal growth. He entices us to rethink the very essence of home, personal relationships, and community. It’s an absolute must-read for anyone who’s curious about contemporary social life, and especially for those who fret that technology is making people more isolated.”
“[Klinenberg] leavens his copious array of statistics with dozens of anecdotes about individuals who live alone either by choice or by circumstance...This book is a catalog of possibilities.”
“Thought-provoking… Mr. Klinenberg argues that singletons comprise a kind of shadow population that’s misunderstood by policymakers and our culture writ large. Going Solo is an attempt to fill in the blanks – to explain the causes and consequences of living alone, and to describe what it looks in everyday life…. Klinenberg renders [these] stories vividly but also with nuance.”
“As Klinenberg shows, this country is getting more single by the minute. The facts are astonishing.”
“Klinenberg’s research is meticulous…Going Solo makes much of the distinction between being alone and feeling alone, between desiring company and craving personal space. Klinenberg debunks the notion that living alone is always a transitional phase en route to domestic bliss with a partner or spouse.”
“This book takes a wide-ranging look at a topic that applies to many of us, even if we don't realize it.”
“Going Solo is invigoratingly open-minded.”
“Cliché-shattering.”
“Fascinating and admirably temperate . . . [Going Solo] does a good job of explaining the social forces behind the trend and exploring the psychology of those who participate in it.”
Going Solo is a terrifically revealing work and an important reminder: the design of cities and communities must go beyond architecture and the environment to reflect the way people want or need to live. Eric Klinenberg's account of how living alone has changed the modern metropolis should be required reading for anyone who cares about cities. (Kate Ascher, author of The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper and The Works: Anatomy of a City)
Going Solo brilliantly explores an overlooked phenomenon with significant implications, and debunks longstanding cultural myths that have prevented us from understanding the rise of living alone. Instead of lamenting the decline of community, Klinenberg calls attention to the innovative ways we're connecting with others while also creating space for reflection and personal growth. He entices us to rethink the very essence of home, personal relationships, and community. It's an absolute must-read for anyone who's curious about contemporary social life, and especially for those who fret that technology is making people more isolated. (Danah Boyd, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research and co-author of Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media)
"Today, as Eric Klinenberg reminds us in his book, Going Solo, more than 50 percent of adults are single . . . [he] nicely shoes that people who live alone are more likely to visit friends and join social groups. They are more likely to congregate in and create active, dynamic cities."
"The Most Conversation-Generating Book About How We Live Now: This non-fiction book has led to coverage and related stories in just about every major media publication, from the New York Times to the The New Yorker to The Guardian... Kudos to Klinenberg, an NYU sociology professor, for providing this well-researched and compelling exploration into the utterly contemporary topic of living alone, and opening up so many discussions of what it all means about us as individuals and as a society."
—The Atlantic, "Books We Loved in 2012"
“A book so important that it is likely to become both a popular read and a social science classic... This book really will change the lives of people who live solo, and everyone else... thorough, balanced, and persuasive.”
—Psychology Today
“Today, as Eric Klinenberg reminds us in his book, ‘Going Solo,’ more than 50 percent of adults are single…[he] nicely shows that people who live alone are more likely to visit friends and join social groups. They are more likely to congregate in and create active, dynamic cities.”
—David Brooks, The New York Times
“Fascinating and admirably temperate…[Going Solo] does a good job of explaining the social forces behind the trend and exploring the psychology of those who participate in it.”
—Daniel Akst, The Wall Street Journal
"Trailblazing."
—Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair
"Going Solo examines a dramatic demographic trend: the startling increase in adults living alone. Along the way, the book navigates some rough and complicated emotional terrain, finding its way straight to questions of the heart, to the universal yearning for happiness and purpose. In the end, despite its title, Going Solo is really about living better together—for all of us, single or not."
—The Washington Post
A fascinating, even-handed exploration of the rise in solo living, addressing its rewards and challenges for individuals as well as its far-reaching implications for society. Illuminating. (Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage
“[Going Solo] serves as a good reminder that single living is alive and well.”