Living Apart Together: A New Family Form

Abstract

Traditionally, marriage has been the social institution for couples that have been together for a long period. Some decades ago non-marital cohabitation began to appear in the western world as a new social institution. ‘Living apart together’ – the LAT relationship – is a more recent phenomenon, which seems to have the potential of becoming the third stage in the process of the social transformation of intimacy. In contrast to couples in ‘commuting marriages’, who have one main household in common, couples living in LAT relationships have one household each. This article presents data on the frequency of LAT relationships in Sweden and Norway, and explores the variation which exists within LAT relationships. The article argues that the establishment of LAT relationships as a social institution requires the prior establishment of cohabitation as a social institution.