In Northern Europe almost half of households consist of one person. Rates of living alone are lower in the Global South but the trend is still on the increase. Prevalent first among the elderly, living alone then becomes common at ages associated with partners and children. Fears about the end of family and community combine with stereotypes, the 'sad and lonely' or 'selfish singles', in popular depictions. This groundbreaking and highly original study brings evidence to the core debates about contemporary social change in the context of globalization, exploring individualization and social connection, the future of family formation, consumption and identities, the relevance of place - rural or urban - in mobile worlds, sexuality, belonging and 'community', living arrangements and sustainability. This book presents a systematic sociological analysis of the growing trend of solo living across the globe, while also drawing on the voices of working-age men and women living in urban and rural areas in the UK.

Exploring the growing global trend of solo living, this highly original study addresses core debates about contemporary social change in the context of globalization, including individualization and connection, the future of family formation, consumption and identities, belonging and 'community', living arrangements and sustainability.

This upper-level textbook presents a new approach to large scale qualitative analysis – the pioneering breadth-and-depth method.  It covers the strengths and deployment of “big qual� as a distinct research methodology. The book will appeal to students and researchers across disciplines and methodological backgrounds. The growing availability of large qualitative data sets presents exciting opportunities. Pooling multiple qualitative data sets enhances the possibility of theoretical generalisability and strengthens claims from qualitative research about understanding how social processes work. Given the evolving possibilities that big data offers the humanities and social sciences, this book will be a must-have resource, building capacity and provoking new ways of thinking about qualitative research and its analysis.

Over the twentieth century Scots' lives changed in fast, dramatic and culturally significant ways. By examining their bodies, homes, working lives, rituals, beliefs and consumption, this volume exposes how the very substance of everyday life was composed, tracing both the intimate and the mass changes that the people endured. Using novel perspectives and methods, chapters range across the experiences of work, art and death, the way Scots conceived of themselves and their homes, and the way the 'old Scotland' of oppressive community rules broke down from mid-century as the country reinvented its everyday life and culture. This volume brings together leading cultural historians of twentieth-century Scotland to study the apparently mundane activities of people's lives, traversing the key spaces where daily experience is composed to expose the controversial personal and national politics that ritual and practice can generate. Key features: *Contains an overview of the material changes experienced by Scots in their everyday lives during the course of the century *Focuses on some of the key areas of change in everyday experience, from the way Scots spent their Sundays to the homes in which they lived, from the work they undertook to the culture they consumed and eventually the way they died. *Pays particular attention to identity as well as experience