En marge du couple. Genre et normes conjugales

Abstract

This research seminar challenges the notion of the couple as an institution and a norm. It adopts an original approach: rather than focusing on the dominant forms of conjugality, it draws attention to the situations of women and men on the margins of conjugal life. It studies the couple from the perspective of the people who are excluded from conjugal relationships, or have rejected them, and examines alternative forms of conjugality. Using this approach, the gender differences that shape couples’ practices, representations and expectations are brought into focus. As marital norms become increasingly diverse, how do these norms differ by gender? Is the broadening of opportunities, which now seems to characterize emotional life, experienced equally by both sexes? Finally, are situations on the margins of conjugal life similar for men and women? A first session is devoted to life outside the couple, i.e. to the situation of people without a partner. It brings together researchers working on the issue of singlehood in different countries of the world. The second session deals with atypical conjugal arrangements. Centred on France, it explores the diversity of contemporary forms of conjugal life.