Singlehood and Religion

This book examines prolonged singlehood in Religious Zionist society, a community that upholds conservative family values. Engelberg argues that late modern individualization processes, including changing attitudes toward gender, relationships, and intimacy, play a central role in creating this phenomenon and in communal responses to it.

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Many Western societies have seen the age of marriage rising in late modern times. While conservative religious denominations often decry gender egalitarianism and liberal society's sexual norms for contributing to this development, many individuals belonging to such denominations are still part of this trend. This book focuses on one such group, Israeli Religious Zionists. Drawing on ethnographic research, Ari Engelberg explains why the numbers of Religious Zionist singles have risen, describes how these adults deal with social marginalization and spiritual challenges, and how the community leadership has responded. On a theoretical level, the book exposes the role that intimacy plays in late modern individualization processes and at the same time offers an in-depth view of Religious Zionist “lived religion”.