A Study of Solo-Livers in Eastern Asia: an Eye on Japan, China and South Korea

Abstract

The article examines how the processes of individualization (which in the modern world lead to many social changes, including lifestyle changes) alter the attitude to the need to start a family. Such processes also lead to the emergence of such phenomenon as "solo-living", but the analysis of the existing studies has shown that the growth of singles has not been researched in global comparative studies. The authors analyze how the problem of singles' growth in East Asian countries (with the focus on Japan, China and South Korea) is considered. Asian studies show that the lifestyle of single people is dictated by several reasons: lack of free time due to work (imbalance between work and life outside it), opposition of young people to official policies of their countries (social policy is aimed at supporting family traditions) and support for such lifestyle by marketing companies (the market is increasingly focused on singles in these countries). Prospects for further research include considering confrontation of social policies of the states and market policy on the issue of solo-living and the analysis of local studies of solo-living.