Romantic relationships and the search for love are ideals that are still highly valued in Western societies. According to the American philosopher Elizabeth Brake, the West is characterized by an "amatonormativity", a system in which individuals are pushed to seek love at all costs, with the romantic couple being the preferred relationship model to the detriment of other forms of relationship. However, celibacy is also a reality for many people. The issue of celibacy is not new and many historical studies show that this subject has been regularly thought about throughout time. We can even find reflections on this subject as far back as the 17th century with the work Du célibat volontaire ou la vie sans engagement by Gabrielle Suchon. More recently, and as we have shown in our case file on celibacy published in 2020, a positive redefinition of celibacy has gradually emerged in the last decades. Thus, some people today consider celibacy as a way of life in its own right, even as a proudly claimed identity. Singlehood is therefore plural and its study helps to understand the dominant discourses in terms of emotional and family life, or even to understand how a society is organized, particularly in terms of interpersonal solidarity. A website, Singlehood Studies, even lists academic articles related to celibacy, proof of the topicality of this concept. This review will therefore focus on the question of celibacy and its treatment by academic research.
Adamczyk, K. (2016). Voluntary and Involuntary Singlehood and Young Adults’ Mental Health: an Investigation of Mediating Role of Romantic Loneliness. Current Psychology, 36(4), 888-904. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9478-3
Bay-Cheng, L. & Goodkind, S. (2015). Sex and the Single (Neoliberal) Girl: Perspectives on Being Single Among Socioeconomically Diverse Young Women. Sex Roles, 74(5-6), 181-194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0565-y
Bellani, D., Esping-Andersen, G. & Nedoluzhko, L. (2017). Never partnered: A multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood. Demographic Research, 37, 53-100. https://doi.org/ 10.4054/demres.2017.37.4
Byrne, A. & Carr, D. (2005). Caught in the Cultural Lag: The Stigma of Singlehood. Psychological Inquiry, 16(2/3), 84-91. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20447267
Fisher, A. & Sakaluk, J. (2019). Are single people a stigmatized ‘group’? Evidence from examinations of social identity, entitativity, and perceived responsibility. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 86, 208-216.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103844
Hill, M. E. (2020). “You Can Have It All, Just Not at the Same Time”: Why Doctoral Students are Actively Choosing Singlehood. Gender Issues, 37, 315–339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-020-09249-0
Lahad, K. (2012). Singlehood, Waiting, and the Sociology of Time. Sociological Forum, 27(1), 163-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01306.x
Lahad, K. (2016). Stop waiting! Hegemonic and alternative scripts of single women’s subjectivity. Time & Society, 28(2), 499-520. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X16639324
Lahad, K. & May, V. (2017). Just One? Solo Dining, Gender and Temporal Belonging in Public Spaces. Sociological Research Online, 22(2), 176-186. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.4270
Lesch, E. & Van der Watt, A. S. J. (2018). Living single: A phenomenological study of a group of South African single women, Feminism & Psychology, 28(3) 390-408. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517731435
Pepping, C. A. & MacDonald, G. (2019). Adult attachment and long-term singlehood. Current Opinion in Psychology, 25, 105-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.04.006
Saint-Laurent, L. (2015). La dynamique de la solitude des néo-célibataires : vers la constitution de nouveaux réseaux de solidarité. International Review of Community Development / Revue internationale d’action communautaire, 29(69), 151-161. https://doi.org/10.7202/1033724ar
Sarkisian, N. & Gerstel, N. (2015). Does singlehood isolate or integrate? Examining the link between marital status and ties to kin, friends, and neighbors. Journal Of Social And Personal Relationships, 33(3), 361-384. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407515597564
Shuzhuo, L., Qunlin, Z., Xueyan, Y. & Attané, I. (2010). Célibat, pauvreté et sexualité des hommes en Chine rurale : une enquête exploratoire. Population, 65, 783-799. https://doi.org/10.3917/popu.1004.0783
Bologne, J. C. (2007). Histoire du célibat et des célibataires. Hachette.
Cleyre (de), V. (2018). Écrits d'une insoumise. Lux.
Dodson, B. (1996). Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving. Harmony.
Guilpain, G. (2012). Les célibataires, des femmes singulières : le célibat féminin en France, XVIIe-XXIe siècle. L'Harmattan.
Kislev, K. (2019). Happy Singlehood: The Rising Acceptance and Celebration of Solo Living. University of California Press.
Laing, O. (2018). The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone. Picador.
Lardellier, P. (2006). Les célibataires. Cavalier bleu.
Maitland, S. (2014). How to Be Alone. The School of Life.
Morris, W. L., DePaulo, B. M., Hertel, J. & Taylor, L. C. (2008). Singlism—Another problem that has no name: Prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination against singles. In M.A. Morrison et T.G. Morrison (Eds.), The psychology of modern prejudice (p. 165-194). Nova Science Publishers.
Apostoloua, M. & Tsangari, S. (2022). Why people are single: The big five as predictors of involuntary singlehood. Personality and Individual Differences, 186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111375
Park, Y., Page-Gould, E. & MacDonald, G. (2022). Satisfying singlehood as a function of age and cohort: Satisfaction with being single increases with age after midlife. Psychology and Aging, 37(5), 626-636. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000695
Van den Berg, L. & Verbake, E. (2022). Trends in singlehood in young adulthood in Europe. Advances in Life Course Research, 51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2021.100449