Singles

Fortunately, I’m single. Better still, I always have been. I love being single. What I don’t love are the dopey caricatures of singles that abound in the popular culture and even in the social sciences. My book, Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After, rounds up all the silly myths about people who are single and dismisses them with data, fearless arguments, and humor. Singled Out is published by St. Martin’s Press.

To Order
Singled Out in hardcover,
click here.

To Order
Singled Out in paperback,
click here.

I also write shorter pieces about singles, such as op-ed essays, and contributions to the Huffington Post. I have given formal lectures and informal talks about singles to many different kinds of groups.

I am trained as a social scientist (Harvard, 1979 PhD) and have conducted scientific research on singles and written papers for academic journals. My paper with Wendy Morris, “Singles in Society And in Science,” provides an accessible overview of my approach to thinking about people who are single. It appeared in the journal Psychological Inquiry in 2005.

With Rachel Moran (law professor at Berkeley) and Kay Trimberger (women's studies, Sonoma State), I wrote an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept 28, 2007 issue) encouraging scholars to integrate the study of singles into their research and teaching. The three of us also created a Singles Studies website. It includes an extensive annotated bibliography of scholarship on singles.

I love hearing from people about their experiences as singles or their observations about singles and the cult of the couple. Whether or not you are single, your stories are welcome. Of course, inquiries from scholars and from the press are always welcome, too.