This book is an interdisciplinary study that draws on a combination of archaeological evidence, building archaeological analysis, archival sources to explore the dynamic relations between dwelling houses, social organization of households, and patterns of cohabitation during the eighteenth century. The empirical focus of this book is on Swedish towns, but it also addresses more general issues about urbanity and urban life, space and social organization, and materiality and individual agency. Aggregated questions about urban life and urban space are combined with a micro historical method revealing aspects of daily life and urban change. This study unveils a previously neglected history. Swedish eighteenth century towns have commonly been identified as a territory characterized by its sleepy absence of change. This study proves the opposite. Houses were built larger, with more diverse and complex inner structures. Family structures changed; households generally became smaller, the share of households headed by a married couple declined, and the number of single households increased. Population density increased, the number of families residing in the same house increased, and rental accommodation became more prevalent. This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in early modern housing, urban change, and interdisciplinary methods.

This book maps out the path from the original thought, “Maybe I should find a housemate,” to actually living with one. Like a guidebook for tourism or hiking, this book describes the milestones and choices on the path. Pluhar shows where the traps and snags are, as well as where the well-trodden and proven paths can be found. There are stories about others who are sharing housing and the methods they have found that work for them. Like finding a job, finding a good housemate is a process with definite steps and decisions. This book maps that process, with helpful advice about what to look for, what to avoid, and when specific actions need to be taken. In conjunction with her blog, www.sharinghousing.com, Pluhar provides worksheets in the book as well as on the website for downloading. This book will hold the hand of the people seeking good housemates—the ones with whom they would wish to live in harmony and comfort.

A close-up examination and exploration, How We Live Now challenges our old concepts of what it means to be a family and have a home, opening the door to the many diverse and thriving experiments of living in twenty-first century America. Across America and around the world, in cities and suburbs and small towns, people from all walks of life are redefining our “lifespaces”—the way we live and who we live with. The traditional nuclear family in their single-family home on a suburban lot has lost its place of prominence in contemporary life. Today, Americans have more choices than ever before in creating new ways to live and meet their personal needs and desires. Social scientist, researcher, and writer Bella DePaulo has traveled across America to interview people experimenting with the paradigm of how we live. In How We Live Now, she explores everything from multi-generational homes to cohousing communities where one’s “family” is made up of friends and neighbors to couples “living apart together” to single-living, and ultimately uncovers a pioneering landscape for living that throws the old blueprint out the window. Through personal interviews and stories, media accounts, and in-depth research, How We Live Now explores thriving lifespaces, and offers the reader choices that are freer, more diverse, and more attuned to our modern needs for the twenty-first century and beyond.

This book deals with the process of the diffusion of cohabitation in Europe and discusses its impact upon fundamental changes in family formation. It makes use of highly dynamic statistical modelling that takes into account both changes occurring along the life course (individuals’ biographies) and across birth cohorts of individuals (generational change) in a comparative perspective. It is thus innovative methodologically, but is written in such a way as to be easily readable by those with little knowledge of quantitative methods. The approach proposed is empirically tested on a selection of European countries: the social democratic Sweden, the conservative-corporatist France and West Germany, the former socialist East Germany, and the familistic Italy and Spain. The theory and its application are described in a clear and simple manner, making the arguments and their illustrations accessible to those from a variety of disciplines. The study shows evidence of the ‘contagiousness’ of cohabitation, providing new insights on a process relevant to many social science debates. It is thus directed to those interested in the mechanisms driving social and cultural change, the nature of demographic changes, as well as diffusion processes.

Family life has been radically transformed over the past three decades. Half of all households are unmarried, while only a quarter of all married households have kids. A third of the nation's births are to unwed mothers, and a third of America's married men earn less than their wives. With half of all women cohabitating before they turn thirty and gay and lesbian couples settling down with increasing visibility, there couldn't be a better time for a book that tracks new conceptions of marriage and family as they are being formed. The editors of this volume explore the motivation to marry and the role of matrimony in a diverse group of men and women. They compare empirical data from several emerging family types (single, co-parent, gay and lesbian, among others) to studies of traditional nuclear families, and they consider the effect of public policy and recent economic developments on the practice of marriage and the stabilization or destabilization of family. Approaching this topic from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cross-cultural, gendered, demographic, socio-biological, and social-psychological viewpoints, the editors highlight the complexity of the modern American family and the growing indeterminacy of its boundaries. Refusing to adhere to any one position, the editors provide an unbiased account of contemporary marriage and family.

The launch of a funny new series about three 12-year-old best friends who start a babysitting club in their small California town. No parents. Unlimited snacks. And, okay, occasionally watching other people's children. What could possibly go wrong?

Given the tremendous diversity in cohabiting couples, as well as the increasing prominence of this form of intimate relationships, this volume provides a more thorough comprehension of the structures, effects, and intimate practice of cohabitation around the world.