Not For Ourselves Alone - Belonging in an age of loneliness

Takes as its starting point the startling increases in loneliness and alienation being recorded across the world. Posits belonging as the answer. Combining sociological insight and historical depth in lively creative non-fiction, Jenny Robin Jones shows that we are all seeking belonging all of the time and illustrates ways in which we do it. Not For Ourselves Alone offers a compelling and often moving look at belonging in its broadest context. The book traces the development of identity from medieval times through the Industrial Revolution to the modern era. Jones shows how things have changed since the old days when we were all together, basically in tribes, fighting for our survival, not being lonely, to these days where we consider ourselves individuals above all else and where society treats us as individuals and does little to encourage a sense of belonging, whether it's to community and place or to larger entities like the economy, the political system and the nation. Finally, Jones argues for a sense of belonging to the universe. Her research sits alongside personal reflections of her own life and those of her friends and family who have all experienced belonging, isolation, loneliness in different ways and at different times.