The Single Woman and the Fairytale PrinceISBN: 978-0-7456-4049-5
Hardcover
200 pages
October 2008, Polity
Other Available Formats: Paperback
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Contemporary Sociology
“Freedom and autonomy have their glories and their
miseries. Jean-Claude Kaufmann has composed a thoroughly researched
inventory of both, while analysing in depth the present-day
condition of women and its impact on the male half of humanity. As
women replace self-effacement with newly gained self-confidence,
the lynchpin is driven out of the family and the private sphere,
and the hard-to-reconcile drives to autonomy and companionship
result in the increasing fragility of commitments and fear of
loneliness for both women and men. In masterly fashion, Kaufmann
records the ongoing transformations in the human condition that
follow. His findings hit at the very heart of the harrowing
dilemmas which most men and women confront these days and struggle
to resolve.”
Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw
“Anyone seeking to understand the fastest growing trend in
personal life – more people living alone – should read
this book. Jean-Claude Kaufmann moves elegantly between broad-brush
historical overviews of changes in family life and fine-grained
scrutiny of the narratives of women ensnared in the drama of these
new demographics. Paradoxically, the opening up of personal choices
for everybody seems to close down the options for many women, who
are finding it harder to find the partners they long
for.”
Lynne Segal, Birkbeck College, author of Why
Feminism?
“This is a brilliant book on the everyday effects of the
rise in female singledom. Kaufman provides fascinating insights
into the pressures that single women experience today, from
society's disapproval of female autonomy as a threat to traditional
family models, to the hopes and disappointments of the modern
dating world.”
Veronique Mottier, University of Lausanne