Living solo at midlife: Can the pandemic de-stigmatize living alone in India?
Section snippets
Going solo
Unlike the United States, where (state-wise) recent estimates show single-person households ranging from 19% (Utah) to as high as 45% (Washington DC), living alone is neither a “normal” nor a familiar habitus for most Indians (https://www.statista.com/). Similarly, single living dominates demographic trends in Europe where almost 32% of households with women and men aged 65 and older live alone (Abell & Steptoe, 2019). Hence, while American sociologist, Eric Klinenberg (Klinenberg, 2013) notes
Stories and lives: navigating sociality, solitude and selfhood in the times of the pandemic
All the four women (ages between 50 and 65) that I interviewed were members of an online, social media based (Facebook) community called JOY (Just Older Youth). This community comprises of singles between the ages 50–60 who are “active seniors planning to live together in a community and be of support to each other as they age” (SilverTalkies, May 26, 2018). The goal of this community is to discuss and develop models of community living that ranges from sharing a common space with non-kin
Concluding thoughts
To argue that the narratives of these women support the de-traditionalization thesis (disembedded from traditional loyalties of marriage and procreation) or in a Giddens, 1992) sense, a democratization of personal relationships through self-reflexive processes, will mischaracterize both the motivations and subjectivities of solo-livers. Nonetheless, the creative ability to construct a “narrative of the self” (p.75) in the midst of the pandemic crisis is evident. It is not because my
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to her study participants for sharing their lives' stories as they navigate the everyday challenges of the pandemic. The helpful comments of the reviewers are duly acknowledged. The author received no funding for this paper.
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