THE THIRD WAVE
Even if we broaden our definition to include families in which both spouses work or in which there are fewer or more than two children, we find the vast majority—as many as two thirds to three quarters of the population—living outside the nuclear situation. Moreover, all the evidence suggests that nuclear households (however we choose to define them) are still shrinking in number as other family forms rapidly multiply.
To begin with, we are witnessing a population explosion of “solos”— people who live alone, outside a family altogether. Between 1970 and 1978 the number of persons aged fourteen to thirty-four who lived alone nearly tripled in the United States—rising from 1.5 million to 4.3 million. Today, a fifth of all households in the United States consists of a person living solo. Nor are all these people losers or loners, forcedinto the solo life. Many deliberately choose it, at least for a time. Says a legislative aide to a Seattle councilwoman, “I would consider marriageif the right person came along, but I would not give up my career for it.” In the meantime she lives alone. She is part of a large class of young adults who are leaving home earlier but marrying later, thus creating what census specialist Arthur Norton says is a “transitional living phase” that is “becoming an acceptable part of one’s life cycle.’*
Looking at an older slice of the population, we find a large number of formerly married people, often “between mar-* riages,” living on their own and, in many cases, decidedly liking it. The growth of such groups has created a nourishing “singles” culture and a much publicized proliferation of bars; ski lodges, travel tours, and other services or product$ designed for the independent individual. Simultaneously, the real estate industry has come up with “singles only” condo-minia, and has begun to respond to a need for smaller apartments and suburban homes with fewer bedrooms. Almost a fifth of all home buyers in the United States today are single.
We are also experiencing a headlong growth in the number of people living together without bothering about legal formalities. This group has more than doubled in the past decade, according to United States authorities. The practice has become so common that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has overthrown tradition and changed its rules to permit such couples to occupy public housing. The courts, meanwhile, from Connecticut to California,
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