The increase in the number of never-married and not-cohabiting singles, or “effective singles,” was first observed in Japan and Southern Europe. In Northern and Western Europe and North America, increased singlehood was due largely to increased cohabitation. Existing sociological theories of singlehood, however, are formulated based on the observations of the latter, and fall short in explaining why more individuals remain unpartnered. The wealth of data from singlehood research in Japan suggest that many singles desire marriage yet drift into singlehood, facing structural, cultural barriers in a rapidly changing social context. The impact of gender inequality is salient, but existing theories focus on women's advancement and egalitarianism. This paper proposes an alternative theoretical framework for explaining causes of singlehood, incorporating sociological and feminist perspectives and Emile Durkheim's theory of anomie, and calls for shifting the center to observations from non-Western societies for better theorization.

中文翻译：

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失范、性别和不平等：从日本经验中发展单身社会学理论

从未结婚和未同居的单身人士（或“有效单身人士”）数量的增加首先出现在日本和南欧。在北欧、西欧和北美，单身人数的增加主要是由于同居现象的增加。然而，现有的单身社会学理论是基于后者的观察而制定的，并不足以解释为什么更多的人仍然没有伴侣。日本单身研究的大量数据表明，许多单身人士渴望结婚，但在快速变化的社会环境中面临结构性、文化障碍，最终陷入单身。性别不平等的影响是显而易见的，但现有理论关注的是妇女进步和平等主义。本文提出了一个替代的理论框架来解释单身的原因，