Single 20-something and Seeking?

Abstract

The demise of marrying as the rite of passage that coincides with exit from the parental household, solemnizing the establishment of a new household and commitment to a sexual partner is well documented across a range of wealthy western countries. It is less certain whether being single is simultaneously being ‘talked up’ (discursively produced) and lived as a positive social category for women and men. It has previously been argued that never-married women cannot easily escape a sense of being marginalized (Gordon 1994) and that the ‘symbolic and material influences’ of marriage ‘stretch to shape the lives of those furthest from marriage, as with never-marrying, never-co-habiting women’ (Chandler 1991, 3). This paper explores the meaning of ‘single’ for young people in their 20s. The early 20s is now an age group in which not being married is statistically normal. Hence, this paper explores the attitude to being single and partnership plans of young people who are somewhat less in the shadow of marriage than either older unmarried people or young people of their age 30 years ago.