Due to demographic changes the number of men who live up to old age is steadily increasing and the gap in life expectancy between men and women is closing. Across a variety of circumstances (e.g. widowhood, divorce, singledom, living apart together) a growing number of men are living on their own in later life. However, this group has received relatively little attention. Some social and evironmental gerontological as well as medical work have considered older men living alone to be an at risk group, with higher scores of deprivation, suicide and mental health problems compared to older women living alone. Social anthropologist Robert Rubinstein’s important publication “Singular Paths” in 1986 provided a novel account of how and why some older men live on their own, which suggested that this group was more emotionally and socially stable than previously expected. In light of significant changes to aging this symposium aims to look at how our knowledge of this group has evolved over the past 30 years. Presentations will provide accounts of men’s lives from different geographical areas as well as social settings. They will look at how perceptions and performances of masculinities are shaped by widowhood and other life events that have lead men to live on their own after the age of 60.
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