Backgrounds, motivations and consequences of voluntarily sololiving among women living in Tehran

Introduction

During the last century, man has embarked on a remarkable social experiment. On a global scale, the number of people living alone shows a 55% increase in a fifty-year period. According to statistics, in Iran, the population living alone has more than doubled in a period of 25 years. Despite the increasing trend of sololiving, this way of life is less discussed and therefore less understood. In some cases, the commentators have considered introducing it as a full-fledged social problem, a sign of narcissism, collapse and impaired socialization. In addition, so far, sololiving has been researched more from the perspective of psychology and mental health than as a style of modern life.
Contemporary solitary dwellers are primarily women. The advancement of women's status, including educational advancement and widespread integration into the workforce, the right to control their family, sexual, and reproductive lives, has contributed to this lifestyle. In Iran, according to the available statistics, 66%, i.e. almost two-thirds, of single-person households are women. It seems that in the metropolitan area of Tehran, there is more tolerance towards women who live alone than in other regions of the country.
The purpose of this research is to answer the question, what does sololiving mean for the participating women, and what are their motivations for choosing this lifestyle, and how do they deal with it? Has the rise of sololiving paved the way for new "urban households" to replace traditional families? In this way, one can reach the personal and social attitudes of people who live alone, the conditions and characteristics of sololiving culture and its effects and consequences.
 

Research background

Various social theorists including Bella et al. (1985), Bauman (2001, 2003, 2005), Putnam (2000), Giddens (1992) and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995) have analyzed the process leading to sololiving. Based on the opinion of these commentators, the trend leading to living alone is always accompanied by an increase in the individualization of society. Ulrich Beck, referring to the his concept of risk society, considers the right to choose and self-creation of identity as the essential characteristic of this age, which is characterized by the choice, decision-making and formation of people who wish to create their own lives and create their own identity (Beck, 2008: 26). He believes that the changes that have occurred in modern societies have freed women to a certain extent from the femininity assigned to them by traditional characteristics (Beck, 2017: 212). Another point of consensus is that the cultural turn to individualism has led to the deterioration of standard models for intimate relationships (Bauman, 2003; Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 1995; Giddens, 1992). On the one hand, this decline, from the point of view of theorists like Bauman, causes a kind of intimacy crisis that damages long-term relationships and causes a kind of mistrust and anxiety. On the other hand, from the point of view of theorists such as Giddens, this change leads to the emergence of relationships of the type of "pure" intimacy in which there is the concept of equality and agreement.

Research method

The aim of this research was to reach a conceptual cycle that can explain the contexts, causal, contextual and intervening conditions, strategies and consequences of sololiving. Grounded theory gave us the chance to draw this cycle under a theoretical order and model that we could not necessarily achieve in description. The process of sample selection was conducted in a Purposive way and interviews were conducted with 20 people aged 25 to 46 who were eligible. According to the research method, samples were taken and data analysis was done simultaneously. Each interview was converted from audio to a written one fully and ultimately faithfully, which allowed us to become familiar with each individual's narratives, read them as text, and begin the process of identifying common themes and meanings.
 

Findings

The finding of this research was the discovery of the core phenomenon in the semantic field of sololiving: sololiving provides time and space for "restorative solitude" and gives them an opportunity as a human being to grow, to become more mature, to feel valued and validated, and to have a comprehensive knowledge of themselves, interests, abilities and finally to gain self-confidence. Besides, sololiving is a way of protecting the "self". The self, sometimes reshaped and conformed to family norms, can now be reclaimed and revitalized in a highly personalized space. Therefore, sololiving can be productive. Along with this phenomenon, these women were able to change their subjectivity and transform it into agency. Sololiving allows people to do what they want, when they want, and on their own terms, i.e. maximum agency. Therefore, it can be said that some kind of "enhanced or accelerated agency" has occurred in the sololiving of the sampled individuals.The process of participants deciding to live alone has required contexts, causes and motivations that include the desire for independence, changes in values and attitudes, economic and social base, and cultural structures. People's strategy to answer the reason for this choice is to try to legitimize it, which is achieved through different strategies.
 

Discussion and conclusion

Sololiving is challenging and places people in novel situations and creates a distinct set of personal needs. In addition to other factors, the emergence and expansion of social networks has created new mentalities, habits and situations for the emerging urban middle classes in Iran, especially Tehran metropolis, which has provided people, especially women, with the opportunity to make other choices other than marriage.
For participants, living alone as a form of self-protection usually means creating a home of their own as a shelter in the city, a home that facilitates the search for solitude and self-discovery. In theory, increasing in sololiving could lead to a variety of outcomes, from societal decline to more socially active citizenship, from rampant isolation to stronger public life. However, at this point in history, it is clear that living alone will be an enduring feature of the contemporary developed world that will spread to developing countries as well.