The Rise of Solo Living: A Room of One’s Own

The Economist, Feb 28 —

The Rise of the Sassy Singleton

The Daily Mail, Jan 25 — Reviews the British edition of Going Solo.

Table for One

NYU Alumni Magazine, Dec 6 — While reclining in an armchair in his office at NYU, sociology professor Eric Klinenberg flashes a warm smile and casually asks me where I live (a studio in the West Village), how I feel about living alone (I love it), why I decided not to get roommates (why put up with anyone but Mr. Perfect?),

Alone But Not Lonely

Glamour, Oct 10 — An infographic on living alone, based on Going Solo.

How Do You House All Those People Living Alone

Zosia Bielski

The Globe and Mail, Sep 20 — For the first time in Canada, there are more people living alone than coupled up with children, new data from the 2011 Census revealed on Wednesday. In five short years since 2006, the number of homes with just one occupant increased to 27.6 per cent of all households in the country – one percentage point

The Attraction of Solitude

The Economist, Aug 29 — Living alone is on the rise all over the world. Is this bad news?

Going Solo: A Brief History of Living Alone and the Enduring Social Stigma Around Singletons

Maria Popova

Brain Pickings, May 9 — Despite its prevalence, living alone is one of the least discussed and, consequently, most poorly understood issues of our time.

Going Solo: If we can afford to live alone, we do

Kathryn Hughes

The Guardian, May 3 — “Klinenberg argues that we need to stop worrying about what it all means and concentrate instead on making it work. The first, and most profound, thing to do is acknowledge that solo living is actually a fantasy underwritten by the very real presence of the family, communities and the state.”

Only the Lonely

Jessica Loudis

The New Republic, Apr 18 — Klinenberg’s aim is not to moralize about singledom or to add to the growing body of crisis literature about the state of loneliness and middle-class adulthood… Rather, he is out to foreground living alone in debates where it tends to lurk in the background—conversations about the decline of marriage, real estate costs, or the isolating

Why Are So Many Americans Single?

Nathan Heller

The New Yorker, Apr 16 — The New Yorker asks: Why are so many Americans living by themselves? A feature review with additional discussions of new books by Sherry Turkle and Richard Sennett.

Living Alone Really Is the New Shacking Up for Some Couples

Jen Doll

The Atlantic, Apr 12 — Much has been made recently of NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg's research on living alone, probably because it's something that all of us, in some way or another—whether it's the desire for more alone time or less—can identify with.

CBC Radio, Sunday Edition

CBC, Mar 25 — A growing number of people are making the decision to live alone, rather than in couples or families. In Canada and the United States, almost 30 percent of all adults live on their own. According to Eric Klinenberg, a professor of sociology at New York University, this isn’t just blip or a passing trend. It’s

The Excesses of Individualism

Charlotte Bruce Harvey

Brown Alumni Magazine, Mar 14 — In his new book, Going Solo, sociologist Eric Klinenberg ’93 documents the growing trend for people to live alone, at least temporarily. Here he discusses why people are choosing solitude and why we should, and should not, be concerned.

Two’s a Crowd

Charlotte Bruce Harvey

Brown Alumni Magazine, Mar 14 — If Eric Klinenberg ’93 is correct, a momentous cultural change is going on largely unnoticed: in record numbers, people are choosing to live alone.

The Benefits of Living Alone, As Told by the Upright Citizens Brigade

Madeleine Davies

Upright Citizens Brigade, Mar 8 — Let's face it. We are all a big bunch of freaks trying to keep our foibles in check while in the company of others. That's what's so great about living alone — you can be a weirdo> and thaw your chicken in the shower.

Homeward Bound: The Rise of Multigenerational and One-Person Households

Garret Keizer

The New York Times, Mar 2 — So these two sociologists go into a bar and the man says to the woman, “What have you been up to?” “I’ve been studying what I call ‘accordion families,’” she says. “Right now something like three and a half million American parents are sharing a house with adult kids who’ve either come back home or never left.”

Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise And Surprising Appeal of Living Alone

Microsoft Research Video, Mar 1 — In Going Solo, sociologist Eric Klinenberg presents a revelatory examination of the most significant demographic shift since the baby boom: the sharp increase in the number of people who live alone. With eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who go solo, Klinenberg upends the conventional wisdom to deliver the definitive take on how the rise of living alone is transforming the American experience.

The High Price of Living Alone

Kimberly Palmer

US News & World Report, Mar 1 — In his new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, sociologist Eric Klinenberg documents the incredible boom in people living on their own, and explores why so many people are willing to pay a premium to have a home all to themselves. “It has a real value to people and they’re willing to find a way to afford it,” says Klinenberg. Today, about 31 million Americans live on their own.

Going Solo

Kevin Hartnett

Christian Science Monitor, Feb 24 — In 1935 General Electric sponsored a competition to design a dream house for the ideal American family. The parents in this ideal family were known as “Mr. and Mrs. Bliss.” He was an engineer. She was a housewife. They had two kids – a boy and a girl. The contest asked Americans to submit ideas for all the ways that electricity could be used to improve their daily lives.

Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone

Suki Casanave

The Washington Post, Feb 24 — “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.

KQED Forum

Michael Krasny

KQED Forum, Feb 23 — In his new book “Going Solo,” Eric Klinenberg interviewed hundreds of people living alone. He wanted to know why in the modern world more than 50 percent of adults are single, and why so many love living alone. We explore the rise in solo-living and the sociology behind it. Host: Michael Krasny

The Myth of the Lonely American

Dave Gilson

Mother Jones, Feb 23 — We Americans like to imagine ourselves as rugged individualists, but we haven't truly struck out on our own until the past couple of decades. More than half of all adults—100 million or so—are currently single; about one in seven, or around 31 million, are living alone. In Manhattan and Washington, D.C., single people make up half of all households. Nationwide, single people now outnumber nuclear families.

One is the Quirkiest Number

Steven Kurutz

The New York Times, Feb 22 — If there is any doubt that we’re living in the age of the individual, a look at the housing data confirms it. For millenniums, people have huddled together, in caves, in mud huts, in split-levels and Cape Cods. But these days, 1 in every 4 American households is occupied by someone living alone; in Manhattan, mythic land of the singleton, the number is nearly 1 in 2.

One is the Loveliest Number

Prospero

The Economist, Feb 16 — In Sophocles's play "Philoctetes" the titular hero is abandoned on a dreary island. The punishment seems drastic even by mythic standards. Ten years alone in a cave, screaming over a wound that refuses to heal? Surely death would have been better. But these days a life of solitude is looking much brighter. The proliferation of solitary dwellers is the subject of Eric Klinenberg's new book, "Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone".

MSNBC, Up with Chris Hayes

Up with Chris Hayes, Feb 11 — This interview aired on MSNBC on February 11, 2012. Up with Chris Hayes focuses on politics including the day’s top headlines, newsmaker interviews, and panels of pundits, politicos and voices from outside the mainstream. It is live on Saturdays and Sundays from 8–10:00 am EST on MSNBC.

America: Single, & Loving It

The New York Times, Feb 10 — The trend is huge, says Eric Klinenberg, the N.Y.U. sociology professor and author of the new book “Going Solo.” In 1950, 22 percent of American adults were single. Now that number is almost 50 percent. One in seven adults lives alone. Half of all Manhattan residences are one-person dwellings. Elizabeth Weil, the author of a new book on marriage, "No Cheating, No Dying,” asked the professor to help decode the singles boom: how solo living is exploding and becoming less stigmatized, how it’s a privilege as well as a liability, how at certain points in modern lives, living alone may very well be the more desirable state.

Interview with Diane Rehm

The Diane Rehm Show, Feb 6 — In 1950, four million American adults lived alone. They represented nine percent of all U.S. households. Today, thirty-one million live alone … twenty-eight percent of all households. For the first time in centuries, the majority of all American adults are single. They will spend more of their adult life unmarried than married, and for much of this time they will live alone. The global numbers of people living alone is also skyrocketing, especially in urban areas of the Scandinavian countries, western Europe and Japan. A New York University sociologist examined the factors behind this trend, and how it is transforming our communities.

After Words with Eric Klinenberg

C-SPAN Book TV, Feb 6 — Mr. Klinenberg explores the growing trend in America of adults of all ages choosing to live alone. He analyzes the impact the trend has on business, politics, and culture and predicts significant social change for the country as a result. He discussed his findings with Kim Blankenship, director of American University's Center on Health, Risk, and Society.

This Book Will Change Our Lives

Bella DePaulo

Psychology Today, Feb 1 — There are three interrelated trends that are reshaping our personal lives and our society, and all three have been developing for decades.

Eric Klinenberg on Going Solo

Joseph Stromberg

Smithsonian, Jan 25 — In his new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, Eric Klinenberg argues that many people living on their own have richer social lives than other adults. He spoke with Joseph Stromberg.