ABSTRACT
Frequent abstention from marriage was common in much of Northern and Western Europe well before the Industrial Revolution, from the first half of the 18th century, or even earlier, through the course of some two hundred years. The ability of historical demography to uncover the social contexts in which nonmarriage occurs is of course limited by the fact that it must rely on reconstruction, and in the contemporary world traditional societies with high incidences of nonmarriage among adults, and particularly women, apparently are rare. There is evidence that in some societies late marriage and nonmarriage occur as a response to economic and demographic pressures. Western travellers to the Himalayan regions continue to romanticize Tibetans and their life ways, which they find not only exotic but also refreshingly straight-forward. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
