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Informationen zum Autor Jean-Claude Kaufmann is a Sociologist and Director of Research at the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) in the University of Paris V, Sorbonne. Klappentext The number of one-person households is rising steeply all over the world and a growing proportion of these 'new singles' are women. It is estimated that one woman in three lives on her own. This development reflects general social trends, ranging from rising divorce rates to the growing professionalization of women and their dissatisfaction with a traditional model that offers them a future organized solely around 'husband-baby-home'. At the same time, the attractions of that model still linger and the fairytale prince is by no means a figure from a story or a remote past. Even in an age in which the internet promises that love is 'just a click away', many women still wait for their prince to come. Jean-Claude Kaufmann's sympathetic study of the lives, aspirations and sometimes despair of the 'new single women' is based mainly on an analysis of a sample of the hundreds of letters sent to Marie-Claire magazine after it published a first-hand account of the single life. Funny, touching and at times profoundly sad, the letters paint a collective portrait of the single woman and her life that is both intimate and socially significant. Kaufmann concludes by situating their stories in a broad comparative context and considering the possible impact of novel phenomena such as the recent vogue for 'mail-order brides'. Zusammenfassung The number of one-person households is rising steeply all over the world and a growing proportion of these 'new singles' are women. It is estimated that one woman in three lives on her own. Inhaltsverzeichnis FOREWORD TO THE NEW EDITION INTRODUCTION PART ONE: IS THERE A MODEL FOR PRIVATE LIFE? 1. LIVING ALONE: A LONG HISTORY Intolerable Celibacy Great Buffalo Woman Celibacy Becomes Legitimate A Maid in Men's Clothes Introspection The World Turned Upside Down The Nineteenth Century: The Main Trend Begins Grisettes and Phalansteries The Break Dark Times The American Model The Scandinavian Model Crazy Times Uncertain Times 2. A LIFE DIVIDED The 'Accusing Finger' 'Weird' Uncomfortable Places The Family: What Can Be Said and What Cannot Be Said The Laughter of Girlfriends Betrayal A Cycle in Three Stages 3. A LIFE SHARED Back to History Premonitory Experiments The Personalization of Feelings A Model for Private Life The Mother-Children Group The Model Undermined 4. PRINCE OR HUSBAND? Facts and Fairies The Prince with a Thousand Faces 'Like a Love Story' The Prince Settles Down When the Carriage Turns Back into a Pumpkin The Prince Plays Musical Chairs PART TWO: PORTRAIT OF A SINGLE WOMAN 5. INTROSPECTION 'The Disease of the Infinite' From Laughter to Tears Double Reflexivity From Diaries to Blogs The Mirror and the Clairvoyant 6. AT HOME Fixtures and Fittings Bed Meals Wrapping Up and Regressing Freedom from Domesticity The Lightness of Being 7. THE OUTSIDE WORLD Going Out Other Ties The Family Work Being Oneself in the Outside World 8. MEN Arms Sex Man-Hunters A Gloomy View of Life Married Men 9. THE INTERNET REVOLUTION A Sudden Change of Epoch Love is Just a Click Away The Dark Side of the Web Real Life Men and Women: Sex and Commitment 'Don't Give Up' An Experience in its Own Ri...
