This paper considers an apparent paradox in South Africa: the share of single-person households increased after the end of apartheid despite the ending of apartheid's racial laws that restricted ‘African’ families from living together, the postapartheid state's building of around four-million low-cost houses for families, the economies of scale offered by multiple-person households in a country where poverty remains prevalent and the reduced significance of some of the longstanding sites of single-person households—including mining compounds and hostels for men. Bringing together quantitative and qualitative data, we argue that solo dwelling remains associated with persistent rural–urban spatial divisions, increased migration and urbanization, continued declining marriage rates and the nature of employment. These arguments are supported by quantitative data that show an increase in solo dwelling, its greater occurrence among men and working-age African men, in particular, its concentration in certain urban spaces and the way it fluctuated in the 2000s according to changing labour market conditions. We also draw on a township survey and interviews that show how, as apartheid restrictions collapsed, new areas of land suitable for solo living became available in the 1990s and provide examples of unmarried and married adults living alone, including to access work opportunities.

中文翻译：

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自由时代的独居：种族隔离后南非独居家庭的悖论

本文考虑了南非一个明显的悖论：种族隔离结束后单身家庭的比例增加，尽管种族隔离限制“非洲”家庭共同生活的种族法已经结束，种族隔离后国家建立了大约 400 万低-家庭的成本房屋，在一个贫困仍然普遍存在的国家，多人家庭提供的规模经济，以及一些长期存在的单人家庭场所的重要性降低——包括矿区和男性旅馆。结合定量和定性数据，我们认为独居仍然与持续的城乡空间划分、移民和城市化的增加、结婚率的持续下降以​​及就业性质有关。这些论点得到了定量数据的支持，这些数据显示独居的增加，在男性和工作年龄的非洲男性中的发生率更高，特别是集中在某些城市空间，以及它在 2000 年代根据不断变化的劳动力市场条件波动的方式. 我们还借鉴了乡镇调查和访谈，这些调查和访谈表明，随着种族隔离限制的瓦解，适合独居的新土地在 1990 年代变得可用，并提供了未婚和已婚成年人独居的例子，包括获得工作机会。