Solitude in NYC

Loewenthal, John

Abstract

Conducting an ethnography of university graduates in New York City, it has emerged that many lack a sense of group belonging. The relationship between individualism as a cultural trait, solitude as an aspect of social organization, and loneliness as an emotional experience of isolation—as independent though connected variables—has been touched upon in the American context (Varenne, 1977; Bellah et al, 2007; Olds and Schwartz, 2009; Putnam, 2009; Laing, 2016), though remains under-explored with regards to life course transitions. This picture, looking down at Manhattan from the George Washington Bridge, aims to metaphorically represent the paradox experienced by many graduates living in New York: euphoria, for having made it to the Big Apple, in tandem with a sense of isolation going forward in life.

Citation

Loewenthal, J. (2017). Solitude in NYC. North American Dialogue, 20(2), 31-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/nad.12061

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Deposit Date: Nov 2, 2023
• Journal: North American Dialogue
• Print ISSN: 1539-2546
• Electronic ISSN: 1556-4819
• Publisher: American Anthropological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 31-31
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nad.12061
• Keywords: Environmental Engineering
• Additional Information: Published: 2017-11-27