Publication details
Solo-living and the meaning of home
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | In social theory, home is often described as a meaningful place where time and space are organized and structured in negotiation between its members. Nevertheless, in today's social practice we can see the growing number of single-member households in all age groups (for example, in the Czech Republic the number of single-member households rose significantly between 1995 and 2010 from 6,5 % to 12 % of whole population and the proportion of single-member households fluctuates in the range of 22-27% in the regions and was significantly higher in the capital, where in 2010 it approached 40% of all operating households). The provoking question is, how is home constructed and experienced by people who live alone, without a family or partner. Our paper is based on the results project is to understand how the meaning of home is constructed by solo-living men and women in different age groups, which practices they use to create, maintain, experience and imagine their homes in space and time. Our approach is framed by theories of home, transformation of intimacy and by studies of material culture and consumption. In the presentation, we will bring an insight into the fresh results of the pilot study based on in-depth interviews with solo-living young adults accompanied by more up-to-date research tools as go-along urban ethnography, photo and video recording and diaries, aiming to answer the main research question on how do the solo-living perceive the notion of “home”, how do they imagine home and how (if) and through which practices do they create and construct home as a meaningful place under the conditions of changing urban environments and transforming housing market in the Czech Republic. By applying phenomenologically inspired approach we would also like to bring more attention to the theoretical and philosophical background of housing studies, as it was discussed and critically reflected in Dublin ENHR conference by ethnologist Mark Vacher or housing philosopher Peter King. |
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