Constructing Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty

Author(s): Jennifer M. Silva

Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 77, No. 4 (August 2012), pp. 505-522
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41723047
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 American Sociological Review
77(4) 505-522
Constructing Adulthood in an © American Sociological
Association 2012

Age of Uncertainty DOI: 10.1177/0003122412449014

http://asr.sagepub.com

(S)SAGE
Jennifer M. Silvaa

Abstract

Past research in both the transitions to adulthood literature and cultural sociology more broadly
suggests that the working class relies on traditional cultural models in their construction of
identity. In the contemporary post-industrial world, however, traditional life pathways are
now much less available to working-class men and women. I draw on 93 interviews with
black and white working-class young people in their 20s to 30s and ask, in an era of increasing
uncertainty, where traditional markers of adulthood have become tenuous, what kinds of
cultural models do working-class young people employ to validate their adult identities? In
contrast to previous studies of working-class identity, I found that respondents embraced a
model of therapeutic selfhood - that is, an inwardly directed self preoccupied with its own
psychic development. I demonstrate that the therapeutic narrative allows working-class men
and women to redefine competent adulthood in terms of overcoming a painful family past.
Respondents required a witness to validate their performances of adulthood, however, and
the inability to find one left many lost in transition.

Keywords
cultural sociology, identity, inequality, narrative, transition to adulthood

In the United States, traditional markers of of adulthood in favor of self-exploration and

adulthood - leaving home, completing school, individualistic identity construction. Sociolo-
achieving financial independence, getting gists, however, have critiqued Arnett's emerg-
married, and having children - have become ing adulthood paradigm for its lack of atten-
increasingly delayed, disorderly, reversible, tion to existing opportunity structures. That
and even forgone in the latter half of the is, although privileged middle-class white
twentieth century (Berlin, Furstenberg, and youth may have the resources to engage in
Waters 2010). In response to these demo- prolonged periods of self-exploration and
graphic shifts, scholars have turned their identity construction, working-class youths'
attention to the changing meanings and prac- limited choices and increased responsibilities
tices of adulthood from the perspective of keep this luxury out of reach (Benson and Fur-
young people themselves (e.g., Arnett 2004; stenberg 2007; Osgood et al. 2005; Shanahan
Benson and Furstenberg 2007; Blatterer 2007; et al. 2005).
Côté 2000; Hartmann and Swartz 2007; Sha-
nahan, Porfeli, and Mortimer 2005; Waters et aHarvard University
al. 2011). The psychologist Jeffrey Arnett
Corresponding Author:
(2004:8) views the transition to adulthood as Jennifer M. Silva, William James Hall, 33
a self-focused, "age of possibilities" in which Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
young people abandon demographic markers E-mail: jsilva@wjh.harvard.edu

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 506 American Sociological Review 77(4)

The decline of traditional markers

become of iden-
tenuous, what kinds of narratives do
tity has also been of central concern
working-class within
young people employ to propel
the broader sociological their
literature on adulthood?
biographies into chang-
ing foundations of selfhood My data
in reveal that the vast majority of
post-industrial
respondents were struggling
society. Indeed, definitions of adulthood both to come to terms
with the disappearance
reflect and operate as cultural models of per- of traditional life
pathways.
sonhood (Lee 2001). Cultural Faced with the
theorists insecurity of the
argue
that traditional models of selfhood,
service economy andstructured
a deep uncertainty sur-
by external religious, rounding
moral, and
gender gender
expectations and commit-
mores of a time past, have
ments,been replaced
most respondents by
- with the exception
of menis
therapeutic selfhood, which with public sectorindi-
reflexive, jobs - could not
rely on traditional rites
vidually negotiated, self-actualizing, and of con-
passage (i.e., leav-
ing home,
tinually reinvented (Bellah finding
et al. a stable
1985; job, and getting
Illouz
married) to construct
2008; Rieff 1987). The therapeutic modeltheir adult
of identities.
selfhood - inwardly directed Contrary and
to past preoccupied
research, I found that work-
with its own psychic and ing-class young people
emotional increasingly
growth - made use
has become a crucial cultural resource for of a therapeutic model to narrate their coming
ascribing meaning and order to one's life of age experiences. The therapeutic narrative
amid the flux and uncertainty of a flexibleenables the post-industrial working class to
economy and a post-traditional social order redefine competent adulthood in terms of
(Illouz 2008). Yet constructing a therapeuticovercoming a painful past and reconstructing
an independent, transformed, and adult self. I
narrative may require a particular set of class-
based linguistic skills, knowledge, and
also identified what I call the new require-
resources that are accessible only to the pro-
ments of coming of age. In the absence of a
fessional middle class (Bellah et al. 1985;normative and socially recognizable transi-
Cherlin 2009; Giddens 1991; Illouz 2008). tion to adulthood, respondents needed a wit-
Past research in the transitions to adult- ness to validate their newfound status, without
hood literature, and cultural sociology more which they could not fully perceive them-
broadly, thus suggests that the working class selves as adults.
relies on traditional and specifically nonthera-
peutic cultural models in their construction of
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
selfhood. Yet traditional life pathways are
much less available to working-class men and Coming of Age in the Twenty-first
women in the contemporary post-industrial Century
world. Indeed, as Benson and Furstenberg
(2007) argue, the transition to adulthood has During the post- World War II golden age of
become prolonged for working-class youthsecure wages, low unemployment, and stable
because traditional role transitions are nuclear family structures, coming of age could
increasingly difficult to achieve. In light of
be characterized as a journey with stable, pre-
this contradiction, this article elaborates on and deeply gendered endings (Lee
dictable,
the difficulties that working-class young2001).
men Since the 1970s, however, stable
employment
and women encounter during the transition to in the manufacturing sector has
become increasingly unavailable, leading to
adulthood and explores the emerging cultural
models they use to construct their adult
declining job security and waning of the family
selves. I draw on 93 interviews with white wage, especially for individuals without a
and black working-class men and women in college degree (Esping- Andersen 1999).
their 20s to early 30s and ask, in an era ofConsequently, working-class young men have
increasing uncertainty and insecurity, whereexperienced sharp declines in available
self-evident markers of adulthood have jobs, compensation, access to pensions, and

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 Silva 507

employer-
disappearance of blue-collar jobs, growth of
black men
precarious work, decline of religious authority,
market
and loosening of traditional gender roles and p
Ratner
family arrangements - have fundamentally 20
ness of
reconfigured th
dominant narratives of selfhood
(Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995; Giddens
increasing
1991; Sennett 1998; Sennett and Cobb 1972;
ployment
Wuthnow 1999). In his
home and seminal work on
dent, adu
modernity and self-identity, for example,
achieve
Giddens (1991) argues that in place of clearly
(D
As defined role transitions structured by external
industr
dered division of labor that was its hallmark sources of authority (e.g., religion and gender),
became anachronistic, destabilizing the gender identity has become an individual, ongoing,
and family arrangements upon which tradi- and reflexive process of construction. That is,
tional definitions of adulthood rested (Hill as external markers become uncontrollable,
2005; Walkerdine, Lucey, and Melody 2001; "what the individual becomes is dependent on
Weis 1990, 2004). Men's diminished labor the reconstructive endeavors in which he or
power, alongside the feminist movement and she engages" (Giddens 1991:75).
women's attendant mass entrance into the In light of the cultural imperative for self-
construction, therapy - and the therapeutic
workforce, sparked a decline in the legitimacy
of marriage (Stacey 1998). In turn, rates ofethos more generally - has become deeply
resonant in American culture (Bellah et al.
marriage fell and rates of divorce and single
motherhood rose, particularly among working-1985; Cushman 1996; Davis 2005; Foucault
class, poor, and African American women 1979; Furedi 2004; Giddens 1991; Illouz
2003, 2008; Moskowitz 2001; Rieff 1987).
(Cherlin 2009; Edin and Kefalas 2005; Gold-
stein and Kenney 2001). Unlike their parents'As a cultural schema, the therapeutic narra-
tive compels one to identify pathological
generation, young people's lives are less deter-
thoughts and behaviors, to locate the hidden
mined by external gender, religious, moral, and
legal codes. Although they still feel pressure tosource of these pathologies within one's fam-
marry, they do not have to; gay and lesbian
ily past, to give voice to one's story of suffer-
relationships are more visible and recognized;ing in communication with others, and to
triumph over one's past by reconstructing an
children are increasingly born out of wedlock;
emancipated and independent self (Illouz
and divorce is more acceptable than ever
before (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995; Bel-2003). In conceiving of all suffering as the
lah et al. 1985; Rosenfeld 2007). The stable
result of "mismanaged emotions" that can be
repaired at the level of the psyche (Illouz
employment, social protections, and strictly
divided masculine and feminine spheres of life 2008:247), the therapeutic narrative gives
upon which traditional adult milestonesactors a sense of control over the disruptions
depended are dissolving. The days of inherit-and uncertainties inherent in modern day life.
ing one's father's place in the assembly line for Studies about the transitions to adulthood
complement the larger body of work on con-
life, or staying unhappily married until death,
are largely gone. temporary selfhood in their focus on the indi-
vidualization and psychologization of
adulthood markers. Indeed, much research on
From the Traditional to the
the changing meanings of adulthood (Arnett
Therapeutic Self
2004; Côté 2000) stems from psychologists
A large body of literature chronicles how thewho emphasize the centrality of individualis-
massive economic and social transformations tic markers - for example, taking responsibil-
of the twentieth century - for example, the ity for oneself, separating emotionally from

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 508 American Sociological Review 77(4)

individualism
one's parents, or making can be characterized
decisions on one's as 'soft
own - in subjective perceptions of adulthood.
psychological individualism,' emphasizing a
Sociologists Hartmann and Swartz's sense of uniqueness, individuality, and self-
(2007:278) recent qualitative study revealed confidence as well as the emotions, needs,
that young people believe that adulthood and desires of the psychological self." The
"should be a journey toward happiness and absence of therapeutic models among the
fulfillment, meaning and purpose, [and] self- working class is supported by the transitions
actualization" marked by "continuous devel- to adulthood literature, which finds that
opment, discovery and growth." Framing whites from advantaged families are more
these conclusions within the larger body of likely than others to embrace self-exploration
scholarship on the changing foundations of (Benson and Furstenberg 2007; Osgood et al.
selfhood suggests that seemingly personal or 2005), while poor, minority, and working-
psychological markers may be instantiated class youth continue to privilege traditional
through a particular cultural form - the thera- role transitions.
peutic narrative - that conceives of and meas- This research brings to the fore a central
ures progress at the level of the psyche. question concerning social class, the transi-
tion to adulthood, and cultural models of self-
hood: Are working-class young men and
Working-Class Adulthood in an Age
women, for whom traditional markers of
of Uncertainty adulthood have become unattainable or unde-
The loosening of traditional forms of identity sirable, unable to create alternative coming of
holds enormous emancipatory potential, age narratives that ascribe meaning, order,
especially given studies of the industrial and progress onto their coming of age experi-
working class that depict the stable, deeply ences? There are compelling reasons to inves-
gendered endings of adulthood as constric- tigate whether nontraditional, and specifically
tive, routinized, and demeaning (Rubin therapeutic, models of selfhood have taken
[1976] 1992; Sennett and Cobb 1972; Willis root in the post-industrial working class. First,
1977). Yet the emancipatory potential of this much of the older literature on class and self-
process cannot be separated from its riski- hood is informed by studies of the white,
ness: in a market-driven world where little or masculine, and industrial working class (e.g.,
nothing is guaranteed by tradition, patrimony, Illouz draws on Willis's 1977 study of work-
or simply one's place in the world, the ability ing-class boys), who may indeed have relied
to reflexively write one's own biography is an on a more traditional and deeply gendered
increasingly essential requirement for build- source of identity. Yet describing the working
ing a coherent life. Existing literature sug- class in terms of the shop floor does not take
gests that successfully creating a therapeutic into account the drastically altered labor mar-
narrative may require a class-based toolkit of ket and vast social transformations across
language skills, emotional expression, and race and gender that have fundamentally
material resources. In a groundbreaking line reshaped what it means to be working class
of research, Illouz (2008) suggests that thera- (Bettie 2003; Black 2009; Lamont 2000;
peutic language is more accessible to the McCall 2001; Walkerdine et al. 2001; Weis
professional middle class than to the working 1990, 2004). As Weis (2004:6) elucidates, "a
class, who remain dependent on more tradi- new working class is shaping itself along very
tional, gendered forms of identity. Drawing particular lines under radically different struc-
on Willis's (1977) seminal ethnographic study tural conditions than those that gave rise to
of the shop floor, Illouz (2008:234-35) the industrial proletariat, both as object and as
observes that "blue-collar work mobilizes an subject."
ethos of bravery, strength, and distrust of Second, existing literature suggests that
words," while "middle- and upper-middle-class therapeutic discourse has become entrenched

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 Silva 509

in a customer
vastservice representatives. I recruited a
ture wor
respondents from service sector workplaces,
including gas stations, casual dining restau-
including
the rants, coffee shops, fast food chains, retail
medic
chains, daycares, and temporary agencies. I
military,
also visited community, regional,
tation pro and state
Hochschi
colleges. Finally, I went to traditionally blue-
Nolan 19
collar workplaces like fire and police stations
therefore
and military training sites. Because the afore-
ble mentioned literature suggests that both race
within
a and gender shape coming of
way ofage experiences
self. In the absence of traditional markers of and class trajectories, I stratified by these
adulthood, have working-class youth adopted categories. The sample consists of 19 black
a substitute, therapeutic model of selfhood? women, 17 black men, 29 white women, and
How might therapeutic discourse shape new 28 white men.
kinds of coming of age narratives, and what I approached young people and asked if
might its usage portend for the meanings and they would like to participate in a study of
practices of contemporary working-class "what it's like to grow up today." Establishing
adulthood? trust was crucial to this undertaking, and I
thought carefully about how my own identity
(as a white woman working toward a PhD)
DATA AND METHODS
shaped my interactions with and analysis of
Data for this research consist of 93 in-depth,
my respondents. During my first week of inter-
semi-structured interviews with working-
viewing, the potential difficulties in forging
class young people in their mid-20sconnections
to 30s. across lines of power and iden-
Respondents were between the ages oftity - whether class, race, gender, or sexual
24 and
34 years, with a mean age of 26 years. All - was thrown into relief by John, a
orientation
respondents were born in the United 27-year-old
States. black man who was studying for
Interviews were conducted from October an2008
accounting exam at a Richmond commu-
to February 2010. 1 originally recruited nity college. Halfway through the subsequent
respon-
two-hour interview, he told me point-blank:
dents from two cities, Lowell, Massachusetts,
"You know the average white woman won't
and Richmond, Virginia. These cities embody
many of the economic and social forces eventhat
look me in the eye. They look away. I was
so shocked when you sat down and talked to
frame the disappearance of traditional markers
me and would even look me in the face . . .
of adulthood: decline of industry, diminishing
public funding, and growth of low-paying
then I learned that you wanted something from
service sector jobs.2 me and it made sense."
Being close in age to my respondents
In defining the working class, I targeted
helped
respondents whose fathers did not have col-bridge the gap between our disparate
lege degrees. Respondents reported social locations. When I shared my own expe-
fathers
riences
who worked as truckers, police officers, of the prolonged transition to adult-
fire-
hood and of being a first-generation college
fighters, carpenters, soldiers, landscapers,
coal miners, factory workers, grocerystudent,
storerespondents would often visibly relax
stockers, drycleaners, house painters,and respond with stories or even advice of
postal
their own. Some, only partially joking,
workers, electricians, mechanics, plumbers,
and technicians. They reported mothers referred
whoto the interview as "free therapy,"
worked as medical and healthcare techni- seeming to savor the opportunity to commu-
nicate their difficult emotions to someone
cians, hotel maids, secretaries, school bus
who would listen. Others asked to read my
drivers, food servers, childcare workers, and

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 510 American Sociological Review 77( 4 )

Table 1. Types of Coming of Age Narratives

Black Black White White
Type of Narrative Women (%) Men (%) Women (%) Men (%) Total (%)
Traditional 5 (26.32) 1 (5.9) 3 (10.3) 5 (17.9) 14 (15.1)
Traditional/Religious 7 (36.84) 4 (23.5) 0 (0) 1 (3.6) 12 (12.9)
Traditional/Therapeutic 0 (0) 2 (11.8) 4 (13.8) 6 (21.4) 12 (12.9)
Therapeutic 7 (36.84) 10 (58.8) 22 (75.9) 16 (57.1) 55 (59.1)
Total 19(100) 17(100) 29(100) 28(100) 93 (100)

work when it was finished or even friend me

himself as an adult because "I got over the
on Facebook. Candace, a 24-year-old black first hump and got married, and now I'm
woman, sent me a Facebook message follow- ready to be a parent," was coded as tradi-
ing our meeting that read, "Your book is tional. On the other hand, if a respondent
going to speak for so many people without emphasized psychological wounds and self-
voices."3 Another informant asked that I use growth, I coded her as therapeutic. Kelly, for
his real name and thus make his story public. example, was labeled therapeutic because she
This hunger to find someone to bear witness told a coming of age narrative of learning to
to their experiences - to be heard - came to manage her ongoing depression. As she
be central to my analysis of respondents' tran- explained, "It's the ability to look at these
sitions to adulthood. things and pick them apart. I've been an adult
Interviews were semi-structured and lasted long enough to see patterns emerging. I can
approximately two hours. All but three inter- kind of see when my thoughts start going in
views were conducted in person at a location these loops, and when I start feeling helpless,
chosen by the respondent.4 Interviews were I just have to make a conscious decision to
digitally recorded with the permission of the not feel that way."
respondent and completely transcribed. Dur- Other respondents drew on both traditional
ing the first round of analysis, I relied on open and therapeutic conceptions of selfhood.
coding, closely reading interview transcripts Indeed, people often mobilize competing or
line by line to discover trends in the data. I even contradictory logics when making sense
focused on identifying incidents, as recalled of their lives, superimposing new cultural
by respondents themselves, that marked criti- models onto older ones (Illouz 2008; Swidler
cal personal junctures in the transition to 2001). I thus allowed for a traditional/thera-
adulthood (Strauss and Corbin 1998). Exam- peutic category (see the example of Cody
ples of patterns of similar incidents include below). Finally, religion emerged as a salient
confronting painful past relationships, bat- theme in coming of age narratives among a
tling mental illness, following God's plan, small group of respondents who understood
and getting married. their delayed transition to adulthood as
In the final round of coding and analysis, I "God's plan." I coded these respondents as
sought to identify whether these incidents traditional/religious. Table 1 presents a typol-
represented traditional or therapeutic ogy of narratives.5
approaches to narrating the self. In some
cases, respondents clearly invoked one or the
FINDINGS
other. I identified a respondent's coming of
age narrative as traditional if it emphasized The men and women in my sample embody
achievement of (or the goal of achieving) the disorderliness, reversibility, and delay of
demographic or external milestones. Benjy, a traditional markers of adulthood noted by
27-year-old white firefighter who described previous researchers (Berlin et al. 2010).

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 Silva 511

Only 12
part in the computer and plug it into the r
machine, and the livin
ried, machine cuts it. ... I
haven't
Thirty-fiv learned to do that, because I was the
older fam
last class before they implemented that in
grandmot
the program at school, and now if you want
dents
to get a job as a machinistwor
without CNC,
tenders
they want five years experience. My skills o
are useless.
security
customer
responde
Over the past five years, Rob has stacked
lumber, installed hardwood
collar jobs floors, land-
scaped, and poured steel athad
dents a motorcycle fac-
tory. His only steadyor
duty source of income since N
dents
high school graduation has beenwe
his National
married,
Guard pay, and he recently returned from his
second 18-month deployment in Afghanistan.
responden
Rob expressed a sense of hopelessness toward
the future that was shared by over half of the
Encount
sample:
For the va
sition to adulthood bore little resemblance to I am looking for a new place. I don't have a
the normalized progression of leaving home, job. My car is broken. It's like, what exactly
completing school, finding a steady job, get- can you do when your car is broken and you
ting married, and having children that so have no job, no real source of income, and
clearly demarcated the split between child- you are making four or five hundred dollars a
hood and adulthood in the decades following month in [military] drills. Where are you
World War II. On the contrary, traditional going to live, get your car fixed, on 500 a
markers of adulthood haunted them as unat- month? I can't save making 500 bucks a
tainable, inadequate, or even undesirable, month. That just covers my bills. I have no
turning coming of age into a journey with no savings to put down first and last on an apart-
clear destination in sight. ment, no car to get a job. I find myself being
Rob, for example, was a 26-year-old white like, oh what the hell? Can't it just be over?
man whom I met while recruiting at a National Can't I just go to Iraq right now? Send me
Guard training weekend. Rob told me his two weeks ago so I got a paycheck already!
story in an empty office at the armory because
he was currently "crashing" on his cousin's When I asked him to identify the "hardest
couch. When he graduated from vocational part of growing up," he replied, "I can't quite
high school, he planned to use his training in seem to keep my feet under me. I get them
metals to build a career as a machinist: "Man- under me, and then I slide off to the next
ufacturing technology, working with metal, I thing." In requiring progress and stable end-
loved that stuff," he recalled longingly. As he ings, traditional definitions of adulthood have
attempted to enter the labor market, however, become untenable, leaving respondents with
he quickly learned that his newly forged skills a growing sense of bewilderment and con-
were obsolete: straint surrounding their identities and futures
(see also Lareau 2003).
I was the last class at my school to learn Economic insecurity has seeped into the
to manufacture tools by hand. Now they institution of family, making respondents
use CNC [computer numerical controlled] uncertain about the viability of marriage and
machine programs, so they just draw the children. Some strived, without success, to

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 512 American Sociological Review 77(4)

superimpose obsoletemade
workmarriage and
morally family
repugnant: "Nowa-
arrangements onto their days,ownit seemsexperiences
like more of a hustle, ofhonestly.
flux. For straight men with 'I need aunstable
ring and everything,'
jobs, like, you don't
this
often meant forgoing relationships entirely
need that really. It's a hustle," fumed Nathan,
because they could not meet a 25-year-old black man whose night-shift
expectations of
the traditional providerjobrole. as a medical
Whitebiller barely
men allowedin him to
particular articulated idealistic
pay his rent. notions of sta-
bility and commitment that For women,
seemed fear ofmore
failure - of investing
nos-
talgic than realistic given timetheand emotional
fragilityenergy into
of a relationship
the
that could family.
post-industrial working-class ultimately fallKevin,
apart - prevented
a
25-year-old customer servicemany from pursuing romantic relationships.
representative at
a grocery store, reflected: "Mainly
Jillian, a 25-year-old whiteI'd
woman, like
seemed
embarrassed
stability out of life. It sounds kindby theof fact that she had
corny but never
I just want to be one of hadthose pops
a serious who
boyfriend. sits
Fighting in eco-
to keep
the armchair with my wife, nomic and social insecuritythe
watching at bay,Dick
Jillian has
van Dyke Show and stuff worked
like 70 hours aGrowing
that. week at a local tavern
up,
I moved around a lot and I she
since never
graduatedreally
from highhad
school,aand has
thusthat
solid family structure so had littleis
time to date:
something I
have always wanted." In evoking nostalgic
images of white picket fences, the
Definitely there Dick
is a sense van
of I have no idea
Dyke Show, and love that what
lasts forever,
I'm going white
to be able to do. Working in
a restaurant
men mourned the loss of their for my
labor life is definitely
power and not
the nuclear, gendered family (Stacey
where I want to be. But 1998).
owning a restaurant,
Deeply forged cultural I mean connections
that's so, so far ahead. Because I
between economic viability, manhood,
have no money and
to start up. So yeah, that is
marriage proved especially devastating
very scary for out
to not have a future planned
black men who, struggling
yet.with
And beinglong bouts
25, it's like okay inof
a few
unemployment in the labor market,
years I want to start a family.often
So starting a
avoided committed relationships
family around 30 or altogether
so, it's like I have five
(see Pager, Western, and Bonikowski
years to get my life together.2009).
Which is defi-
Brandon, a 34-year-old black man
nitely not going who
to happen. So it'shas
definitely
managed the night shift at a scary
really women's
not knowingclothing
exactly the path.
store for the past 11 years, explained this
For black
matter-of-factly: "No woman women to
wants in particular,
sit on black
the couch all the time and watch TV and eat men's profound economic disadvantage
at Burger King. I can only take care of myself intensified their struggle to form lasting rela-
now. I am missing out on life but making do tionships. Shannon, a 24-year-old black
with what I have." Watching marriage and woman who was working toward a degree in
children pass them by triggered feelings of education, wrestled with the decision of
loss, revealing a deep cultural anxiety about whether to date men with lower educational
the fluidity of adulthood and the uncertainty and employment credentials than herself: "I
of the future. Douglas, a 25-year-old black don't know, I feel like I can't ask for too
man who lived with his godmother, turned much because there's not enough people for
contemplative when I asked him about mar- me to write everyone off."9 Watching rest-
riage: "People used to get married at 21. You lessly as traditional milestones of adulthood
don't see that anymore. Trust is gone. The passed her by, Shannon was considering hav-
way people used to love is gone." Knowing ing a child outside of wedlock: "I do want to
they were being evaluated for their earning do it like right, but even in my family there
potential fostered a sense of injustice, one that are children out of wedlock and my family is

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 Silva 513

very
performance felt empty: goo
she could not convince
necessaril
herself of its legitimacy.
For wom
mous rela
(Re)constructing Adulthood in an
ing pafor
Age of Uncertainty
into quest
I now turn to examine the ways respondents
marriage.
who met
ascribed meaning and order to their coming of
outskirts
age experiences. Just over a quarter of respon-
into her
dents (coded as traditional and traditional/reli-
gious) told their coming
could of age narratives as
even
you journeys of having achieved traditional mile-
think
and stonesthen
or of hoping to progress toward them.
start at
Within this group, five male public sector work- sq
do Iers expressed this logic most consistently and
really
to go, wh
coherently. As Joseph, a 27-year-old white man,
with "old
put it, "being an adult is making it happen, not
parents
waiting for it to happen." w
their late
When Joseph was growing up, his father
was in and out of prison
their for selling drugs and
earl
35 his mother struggled to raise
th wed their five chil-
from hig
dren. The day after Joseph graduated from
high school, he enlisted in the Marines and
administr
son tookof
his first ever plane ride to boother
camp. He
ing married in
his high school sweetheart at 19,he
and
challengin
they had their first child two years later on the
military base. Joseph was committed to build-
He ing a stable nuclear family: when the city
was lik
and eliminated
I all overtime
waspay at the start of the
was recession, a
he took a second job
singmonitoring a
cell phone tower, and his wife ran a daycare be
anyway
out of their home to make
there is ends meet. His adult
no
identity was deeply gendered, founded on
full-time
being a good father and a good
home. We husband: "I had
money-
my priorities straight. I'm not going to go sit at w
a bar and drink with my
year, friends when I got my
and
wife and kids at home."
know if What separated JosephI e
see and the four other men from the rest of the
how y
respondents was, Igot
they argue, the fact that they had m
the stable public sector jobs in traditionally mascu-
house
followed line fields, thus allowing them to attain the
being deeply gendered, stable endings of th
adulthood.
divorced with no kids. For the remainder of respondents in this
category, however, the fit of the tradition-
oriented narrative was tenuous. Cory, a
Allie idealized her parents' smooth transition
from marriage to children to home ownership in 34-year-old white bartender who had been
their early 20s, but she could not make this path living paycheck to paycheck since he was 16,
work for herself. Although she undertook a told his coming of age story as a series of
central ritual of adulthood - marriage - her failed attempts at traditional adulthood: he

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 514 American Sociological Review 77(4)

established himself in a career as a mechanic Within the institutions that framed her
but got laid off; he bought a house but transition to adulthood - her family and her
defaulted on the mortgage; and his girlfriend church - Rachel learned to put her life in the
of nine years had a miscarriage, which even- hands of a higher power: "He has a plan for
tually led to their breaking up. In his mid-30s, me and that is what I believe." In a similar
Cory's narrative of progress faltered when I way, Alexandra, a 28-year-old black woman
asked him about the risks he faced in building who had been working at a temp agency for
a new life for himself: "If I had like goals, six years, explained, "I don't lose my confi-
like real live goals, then there could be a lot to dence because I know it will happen in God's
let that down. So I am floating. Whatever time."
happens next, happens, and I will deal with it In contrast to these traditional and reli-
when it happens." gious narratives of adulthood that measured
A subset of respondents (coded as tradi- progress through external markers, many
tional/religious) drew on their religious faith as young working-class men and women used
a strategy for coping with the delay of tradi- the therapeutic language of psychological
tional markers of adulthood. Rachel, a 27-year- self-growth. More specifically, just under
old black woman, juggled her 40-hour a week three quarters told their coming of age stories
customer service job with National Guard as a struggle to triumph over demons of their
weekend training and raising her 4-year-old son. pasts, either combining this language with
With 20,000 dollars in debt, she was forced to traditional markers (coded as traditional/ther-
move in with her mother, who also cared for her apeutic) or eschewing traditional markers all
son during Rachel's two year-long deployments together (coded simply as therapeutic). These
in Iraq. With little hope of finding a husband and demons took three, often overlapping, forms:
father for her son, Rachel knew that her only pain or betrayal in past relationships; emo-
chance at providing a better life for her son tional, mental, or cognitive disorders (e.g.,
required deploying to Iraq yet again to take depression, dyslexia, or anxiety); and addic-
advantage of the higher combat pay. She mused: tion to drugs, alcohol, or pornography. Rather
"I am kinda happy about it and kinda not. I than anchor their identities in traditional
missed the first two years of my son's Ufe and markers such as work or family roles, these
now I might have to leave again. It's just rough. respondents grounded their adult identities in
You can't win." When I asked Rachel if there their personal quests to transform their
had been times when she wanted to give up, she wounded selves.
replied: Monica, a 31-year-old white woman, grew
up on a dairy farm where her mother traded
No matter how hard I try, I take one step for- milk for doctors' visits and sometimes hid
ward and get punched back 10 steps. Like food stamps from her proud father to get the
no matter what I do, I just can't seem to get family through the long winter months. With
ahead and make things work out for me. I her short, ruffled hair and plastic rim glasses,
kinda just leave it up to God, you know what Monica exuded a youthful charm that per-
I mean, because He has a plan for me and fectly complemented her plaid shirt and ciga-
that is what I believe. When He wants me to rette jeans. But in her own mind, she still felt
go a certain direction or be stable or have like the "super shy," awkward girl from the
wealth or whatever He wants me to do, it farm who survived the lonely days of high
will come when He wants me to have it and school only by turning to drugs and alcohol.
I am just trying to think about that whenever Monica found her first job in a nearby toy
I get down. I do still have days when I want factory, where she packed dolls in boxes
to go to sleep and I don't wanna get up. . . . before they were shipped out. When that
God and my son are the only things that are factory closed, she moved to an electric fac-
keeping me going. tory, where she spent eight hours a day using

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 Silva 515

Unlike her parents, who viewed upward

tweezers t
cal switches. She has since worked as a wait- mobility, work, and family as foundational to
ress, a truck driver, a field hand, a telemarketer, a worthy life, Monica created a different kind
and a hospital aide, returning in her late 20s to of coming of age narrative, one that did not
live with her parents and help her father in his hinge on any of the traditional (and deeply
logging business after yet another seemingly gendered) markers of adulthood but instead
long-term relationship fell apart. focused on overcoming her addiction and
Monica never envisioned herself having a realizing her authentic self through art. Her
future. "There was no five-year plan," she string of short-term jobs and relationships,
laughed. "I started using really, really young and years of constant flux, taught her that
and really didn't think I would live to see 30. depending on traditional markers of adult-
I was just like, I just want to have fun today, hood to center her sense of self would leave
right now." Monica described one earth-shat- her constantly seeking. When I asked her if
tering moment when she realized her life was she felt like an adult, she replied, "I think that
going nowhere, prompting her to get sober: having more time in sobriety has taught me to
grow up in a lot of ways. I mean there's tons
I definitely had one moment. It was the very of stuff that I don't feel proud about that I've
end of working for my dad. I was in the done, like tons of stuff. But I can't change
truck, and I was at a woodlot, and it was a that, and I wouldn't be who I am today if I
freezing cold morning, and I was waiting for didn't go through everything that I did." Even
them to be ready to fill the truck. So I was though she was living with her parents, "just
just sitting, and I was like ... the radio was hanging on by a thread all the time finan-
off and I was journaling, and I was hung cially," and postponing long-term relation-
over and I felt horrible. I was just like, what ships, she felt accomplished - just as long as
am I doing with my life? It's such a mess, she stayed sober: "Because if I don't, you
it's so unmanageable and I'm a mess and know, I could drink and that would mean los-
I'm not happy in any way. . . . Working for ing everything."
my parents and been working for my parents Justin was a 31 -year-old black man who
for years and it's just not . . . nothing in my worked as a server at a casual dining chain
life is working. So I kind of like said a little restaurant. He spent six years at a historically
prayer and asked for help and made a pact black college, finally earning a degree in
with myself that I was going to change finance that he paid for with loans. Upon
something. graduating, Justin found a job as a death
claims clerk at an insurance company in
Monica found a therapist who diagnosed her central Virginia and fell in love with a male
with depression, started her on antidepressants, co-worker. After four years, however, the
and convinced her to go to an Alcoholics Anon- relationship fell apart, dragging Justin into a
ymous meeting. Although she relapsed a few deep sadness that left him unable to get out of
times, and had to stop taking her medication bed for three months. After losing his job and
because she could not afford health insurance, moving in with his sister, Justin (like one
Monica continued to attend AA meetings. She other respondent) enrolled in a free drug trial
challenged herself to see the positive aspect of that provided him with antidepressant medi-
everything that happened to her, believing that cation. He moved to Richmond in search of a
happiness was within her control. Even when fresh start. Three years later, he described his
her bike (and sole form of transportation) was situation: "I'm just kinda like at my end's
stolen last spring, she "was like, that's all right, rope. I've been working here so long that I'm
I needed to get rid of my mountain bike and get just like . . . I'm tired of hearing from my
a road bike {laughs). You really just have to mom and my family like everyone is like,
keep it positive today." you've got a degree, why are you working at

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 516 American Sociological Review 77(4)

adulthood markers
[that restaurant]?" Barely that mark the transition
breaking even
every month, Justin was from onetrapped,
status to another unable to
in a socially recog-
move forward in his nizable
journey to markers
way, therapeutic adulthoodalso require
through traditional conduits because
the participation of others. of fear
of losing what little he had.
Some respondents found such witnesses in
Justin ascribed meaning, order,
drug and alcohol and
treatment pro-
programs, coun-
seling, or support
gress onto his life through hisgroups (n = 10). As we
struggle to
"come out" and claim stood his true
outside her sexuality
favorite coffee shop one
despite his family's rejection: "There
night, sharing my were
umbrella to shield a
us from
few things that hindered me
the heavy growing
rain, up. One
Lauren inhaled cigarette after
of them was, growingcigarette,
up my shakily recounting her
family story of
didn't
talk about stuff. Like we're a recovery:
addiction and very hush, hush
family . . . sex, we never talked about sex,
never, ever, ever. And then me
I suffered frombeing gay,
a lot of depression and first
social
of all I don't know what sex is. I don't know anxiety and . . . just a lot of emotional and
how to say sex or talk about sex." Convinced mental issues growing up. I saw school psy-
by his religious upbringing that homosexual- chiatrists and then I turned to drugs. That's
ity was evil, Justin prayed every night that he why I didn't do well in high school, I was
would wake up the next morning and "be too busy smoking pot ... I did everything.
straight." After many agonizing years of Everything but like free-basing . . . well,
unanswered prayers, Justin decided it was actually, I smoked crack so I did free-base. .
time to accept his sexuality as an undeniable . . Every day, I spent all my money on it. I
part of himself: "I had no choice. You can't. was unemployable because of it. I kept
No matter how long you try to repress these trying to get on my feet but I never could.
feelings. If you're gay, you're gay. That's how Addiction runs in my family. My mom is an
I know you're born this way." While he strug- alcoholic, my dad is an alcoholic, and my
gled to pay the rent on his studio apartment mom's brother stuck a shotgun in his mouth
and had yet to find a suitable romantic part- and pulled the trigger because of drugs.
ner, he "feels like an adult" because he tri- There's a lot of addicts in my family and I
umphed over a painful upbringing and found am one of them.

the strength to claim his authentic self.

Lauren realized that she needed to seek
help after not eating or sleeping for six days.
The New Requirements of Coming of
When a treatment center turned her away
Age
because she lacked health insurance, she
Through telling their stories of overcoming found Narcotics Anonymous, recalling "the
difficult pasts, working-class women and men moment I decided to seek help for my addic-
staked a claim to the dignity and respect due tion was the moment my obstacles became
adults. This alternative, therapeutic coming of growing experiences." Lauren has since
age story ends not with marriage, home own- learned a new language of empowerment
ership, and a career, but with self-realization through suffering and used it to reconceptual-
gleaned from denouncing a painful past and ize her sense of self. She declared, "My
reconstructing an independent, complete self. mom's an alcoholic, my dad kicked me out of
However, simply constructing this alternative the house . . . it's not a handicap, it has made
narrative with its individualized markers was me stronger!" Despite the fact that Lauren
not enough to feel like an adult: the very act was unhappy in her job and could not afford
of telling calls for a witness, a recognizing to go back to school, she felt she had made
subject who listens to and validates one's great progress in overcoming her addiction
hard-won but tenuous self. Like traditional and had forged a meaningful identity as a

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 Silva 517

when he ascribed therapeutic meaning to his

"survivor
such as
parenting that he felt his life had moved for- t
ward.
responde
find Most respondents
it were still seeking a wit-
fo
ness to their coming of age journeys. A small
support g
and number of respondents (n = 5) attempted to
could
use writing, blogging, or art to communicate
weekly, o
their difficult emotions.you
Some More typically,
children as the ultimate witnesses to their
respondents attested that their parents -
self-growth (Silva and Pugh 2010). Cody, awhether because of their own alcohol or drug
27-year-old white mechanic who was haunted addictions, mental illnesses, or simply lack of
by memories of his childhood, explained, fluency in therapeutic language - could not
"My father wasn't around and when he was provide the kind of recognition they yearned
around, he hit me or he yelled and screamedfor. To return to the case of Justin, his pride in
at me and made me feel like I was this big." having found the strength to come out was
Cody measured his progress and success astempered by the fact that he had to hide his
an adult based on his ability to relate to his sexual orientation from his conservative reli-
children very differently than his own fathergious family. Tragically, Justin believed that
related to him: his father, who recently passed away from
cancer, might have been his only chance for
When I get to that point where I am so mad, affirmation. He recalled tearfully: "And
and I yell like my father used to yell at me, before he passed away, he actually, I think he
my stomach turns and I want to throw up. I was trying to give me a sign that he knew.
want to curl up in a ball and cry. One time I Because he gave me this big card and it had
yelled at the kids for fighting with each like a bowl of candy on it, and it said, 'No
other and they looked at me like they were matter how sweet you are I will always love
scared and I just felt sick. There is a tone you.'" Justin's transition remained incom-
you can use with your kids and I am only plete because he had no one to witness and
just learning that tone. I am still learning I affirm that his suffering yielded something
should say (he laughs). It's not easy. meaningful: the brave discovery of his
authentic, adult self.
With help from a counselor from his young Similarly, Vanessa, a 30-year-old white
parents' support group, Cody developed new woman who was about to start a job as a
ways of interacting with his children. Henanny after seven months of unemployment,
shared proudly: "I am starting a whole new constructed her coming of age narrative
thing so it's very alien to me and I do the bestaround a self-diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
I can. I'm not a great father, but I think I'm aDuring our three-hour interview, she searched
good father; the little time I do spend with myher past for signs of her illness, linking the
kids, I do fun things. I read with them. I thinkpainful events of her life - being bullied at
the biggest thing is I got my daughter into school, fired from jobs for stealing, getting
reading. I read now. And that is only recently,divorced twice, and losing custody of her
because I never read in school." Cody devel- twins - with the common thread of her disor-
oped personal and individual markers of der. Traditional markers struck her as unsus-
adulthood - namely, not becoming his owntainable, so understanding her past and
father - but his performance was rendered breaking free from unhealthy relationships
meaningful and authentic only when his chil-became central to her definition of adulthood:
dren bore witness to it. Although Cody "Since my divorce, I have been on my own
achieved a central demographic marker offor the first time in my life. I have not had
adulthood - becoming a father - it was only anybody controlling me but myself ... I have

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 518 American Sociological Review 77( 4 )

better
only been an adult for six fit the changing
months times (Swidler
{sobbing). I
have learned a lot along1986:279).
the way." Specifically, telling therapeutic
narratives machinist
Vanessa's parents - a field of selfhood served as and
a substitute
a
medical records coder,transition
whom she working-class
that allowed described young
as traditional, religious, andto Southern
men and women -
reconstruct their dislp-
cated experiences
viewed their daughter with a mixture of work and offamily
sad-as tri-
ness, bewilderment, andumphant narratives
disdain: of overcoming
"They just painful
pasts.is
look at me and say, 'What By enabling
wrong themwith
to tell their
you?coming
Why can't you get a job, why
of age stories aren't you
backward - to start attak-
their pre-
ing care of your own sent, transformed
kids?' And selves
I and
am work backward
like,
you grew me up doing certain things,
through the emotional and
trials they this
went through
is what has happened to because
construct theirof it,
stories so
- the you
therapeutic
can't blame me." Her parents - as
logic allows for the potential
possibility of self-worth,
meaning,
witnesses - did not judge herand progress (Illouz 2008). of
performance Highly
adulthood as authentic. Unable to afford ther- flexible, therapeutic language can meld with
apy, she joined an online bipolar support traditional stories of coming of age, as in the
group but soon quit because she felt ignored: case of Cody, or substitute for them all
"It was all about [the founder of the group], together, as in the case of Monica. For young
you see, she would take up most of the time working-class people who are crippled in the
to talk. She didn't think the other people there
present and wary of the future, the past-cen-
would need people to talk to as well." Vanessa tered therapeutic narrative allows them to
continued to search for validation.10 make sense of disappointment, rupture, and
failure at the level of the psyche.
Although past research has depicted the
DISCUSSION AND
working class as unable to employ therapeu-
CONCLUSIONS
tic understandings of the self, my interview
This is a study of what happens when taken-
data reveal that its discourse is ingrained in
for-granted ways of organizing one'sthe
biogra-
institutions that shape this generation's
phy become obsolete, unavailable, or lives, including social services, school psy-
undesirable. As my interview data revealed, chologists, self-help literature, free drug tri-
working-class youth are trapped between the als, the Internet, and Alcoholics and Narcotics
rigidity of the past and the flexibility of theAnonymous. Indeed, these institutions are
present. They are haunted by the meanings more prominent than more traditionally
and rituals of traditional adulthood even oriented ones (such as masculine jobs like
though they see this model as unattainable,firefighting, or religion) in working-class
inadequate, or simply undesirable. Althoughindividuals'
a everyday lives. This finding
few men with stable, public sector jobs were
sharpens our understanding of how therapeu-
able to perform traditional adulthood and felt
tic language may be used differently among
like successful adults, the vast majoritythe
of middle and working classes. Therapeuti-
respondents found themselves "lost in transi-
cally oriented institutions anchor working-
tion" (Brinton 2010) due to the mismatch class lives amid the insecurity of the service
between enduring cultural models of adult-sector and the fragility of personal relation-
ships (see Whitley 2008). For Cody, for
hood, on the one hand, and evolving opportu-
nity structures on the other. example, the therapeutic model of suffering
Some respondents, particularly black
and self-transformation was foundational to
women, turned to religion as a strategy for
forging a new relationship with his children.
reconciling this mismatch, but others
Yet therapeutic ideology may also encourage
"reorganize^] taken-for-granted habits and
working-class young people to draw strong
modes of experience" into new rituals that
boundaries against family members who

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 Silva 519

engage
public sector jobs like firefighting more in
likely
or than women to rely on demographic markers
using d
of adulthood? Are black women more likely
die-class s
ultimatel to turn to religious communities in their tran-
happiness sitions? Future work should also examine
The whether and how middle-class youth rely on
neces
that adulthood remains an interactional therapeutic (rather than simply personal or
psychological) markers in defining adult-
accomplishment, requiring social recognition
hood.
for validity and authenticity (Davis 2005). In Can middle-class youth find witnesses
this vein, my findings suggest a synthesis
more successfully than their working-class
between psychologists who examine only counterparts? In undertaking such research,
scholars
individualistic and psychological meanings of can sharpen their understandings of
adulthood and sociologists who insist on class,
its race, and gender differences in the
role-oriented nature. That is, rather than
meanings and processes of twenty-first-cen-
engaging in a period of self-exploration tury
and adulthood.
identity construction on the one hand, or
privileging traditional role transitions over
Acknowledgments
individualistic ones on the other, working-
I am especially grateful for thoughtful guidance from
class youth construct seemingly personal
Sarah M. Corse, Sharon Hays, Bruce Western, Michele
markers of adulthood that are in fact cultur-
Lamont, Allison Pugh, Robert Zussman, and Leslie
McCall. I would also like to thank the editors of ASR and
ally patterned and dependent on social recog-
nition for validation. When witnesses are my five anonymous reviewers for their insightful and
patient feedback. Ahrum Lee, Matthew Morrison, Dan
found in everyday practices, such as parent-
Finn, Nicole Deterding, Tony Jack, Jeremy Schulz, Josh
ing, attending weekly Alcoholics Anonymous Pacewicz, and Tristan Bridges each provided useful com-
meetings, or seeing a therapist, respondents ments on earlier drafts. This article was presented at the
Harvard Culture and Social Analysis Workshop in 201 1 .
legitimate their self-perceptions of adulthood.
But for the majority of respondents, attain-
ment of a witness proved difficult and some-
times impossible, whether because they could
Funding
This research was supported by the Woodrow Wilson
not afford therapy, faced generational differ-
Women's Studies Dissertation Fellowship and the
ences in emotional expression, or lacked
National Science Foundation - American Sociological
institutionalized support. Without a witness Association
to Postdoctoral Fellowship.
legitimate their story, working-class young
people became suspended in a narrative of
Notes
suffering, and the ritual failed to produce a
1. On the medicalization of deviance, see Conrad and
newly adult self. This finding underlines the
Schneider (1992).
tenuous nature of therapeutic models of adult-
2. Lowell was the center of the textile industry for most
hood, especially for individuals who do not of the nineteenth century. Even when the mills
have the resources necessary to put them into declined in the decades following the Depression,
practice. Lowell retained a concentration of employment in
manufacturing at 50 percent above the national aver-
These conclusions suggest avenues for
age (Gittell and Flynn 1995). In the early 1990s,
future research concerning the relationship Lowell's economy began to decline, largely due to the
among social class inequality, therapeutic closing of factories. Like Lowell, Richmond was built
markers of adulthood, and sources of social on a strong manufacturing and shipping base, emerg-
validation. Researchers should examine the ing from the Civil War as the industrial powerhouse
of the South. However, by the end of the twentieth
role of institutions (e.g., therapy and religion)
century, Richmond had experienced massive capital
in shaping coming of age narratives, particu- flight and rising unemployment.
larly across race and gender groups. For 3. 1 received approval from the Institutional Review
example, are men with traditionally masculine, Board to collect data on Facebook posts and messages

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 520 American Sociological Review 77( 4 )

Bettie, Julie. 2003. Women

with the permission of my respondents. withoutaClass:
About third Girls, Race,
of respondents friended me on
and Facebook.
Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Black,in
4. 1 conducted most interviews Timothy.
public2009. When a Heart
places Turns Rock
such as Solid:
restaurants and coffee shops, The
although I occasionally
Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off
interviewed in people's homes.
the Streets. New York: Vintage Books.
5. The aim of this table is not Blatterer,
to confirm Harry. 2007.the distribution
Coming of Age in Times of Uncer-
tainty. of
or prevalence of particular types New York: Berghahn Books.
narratives among
young adults more generally, but
Brinton, rather
Mary to
C. 2010. Lost identify
in Transition: Youth, Work,
and Instability
salient distinctions and processes within in Postindustrial
this sample,Japan. New York:
explore whether and how therapeutic language is
Cambridge University Press.
Cherlin,of
used among particular members Andrew
the J. 2009. The Marriage-Go-Round:
younger work- The
ing class, and suggest categories
State of analysis
of Marriage and the for future
Family in America Today.
studies with representative samples
New York: Knopf. (Small 2009).
6. The vast majority of respondents
Conrad, Peter andhadJosephGEDs
Schneider.or 1992.high
Deviance and
Medicalization: From
school diplomas. Three held associate's Badness to Sickness.
degrees; thir- Philadel-
teen had bachelor's degrees; phia,
and twoUniversity
PA: Temple held Press.
master's
degrees (one from a for-profit university).
Côté, James. 2000. Arrested Adulthood: The Changing
Nature of
7. 1 included such a high proportion of Maturity
former and Identity. New York: New
or current
soldiers because disadvantaged youth
York University Press. often view
joining the military as a vehicle for
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522 American Sociological Review 77 { 4 )

climate
She received a PhD in Sociology from of economic
the insecurity,
University of risk
social uncertainty.
Virginia in 2010 and a BA in Sociology Her previous wo
and French from
women
Wellesley College in 2004. Jen's in the Reserve
book manuscript, Officers' Train
forth-
coming with Oxford University Press,
negotiate explores
the how
male-dominated cultur
working-class black and white men and
( Social women
Forces, inand
2008) their
how parenting
working-class
mid-20s to 30s navigate the transition parents'
to adulthood in lives
a {Sociologi

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