Introduction

Abstract

Social and personal ties are undergoing significant changes in Western societies, provoking public anxieties that traditional associations of family, neighbourhood and community are fragmenting. Academics, politicians and policy makers have expressed concern about a decline of community values and personal responsibility. Various factors have been identified as possible causes including globalisation, spatial and social mobility, the welfare state, the women’s movement and quest for gender equality, a decline in marriage, higher divorce rates, and the rise in single-person households. How are people relating to one another during an era when high importance is placed on individual self-reliance and choice in relationships? With a focus on gender differences and identities, this book addresses this question by examining how the ‘individual’ is being conceived in relation to the ‘social’ in contemporary Western society.