Coming of Age in Times of Uncertainty [Paperback]

Adulthood is taken for granted. It connotes the end of childhood, the resolution to the storm and stress period of adolescence. This conception is strongly entrenched in the sociology of youth and the sociology of the life course as well as in the policy arena. At the same time, adulthood itself remains unarticulated; journeys end remains conceptually fixed and theoretically uncontested. Adulthood, then, is both central to the social imagination and neglected as an area of sociological investigation, something that has been noted by sociologists over the last four decades. Going beyond the overwhelmingly psychological literature, this book draws on original qualitative research and theories of social recognition and thus presents a first step towards filling an important gap in our understanding of the meaning of adulthood.

Acknowledgements

Preface
Peter Beilharz

Introduction

Chapter 1.Representations of Adulthood
Chapter 2.Adulthood, Individualization, and the Life Course
Chapter 3.Adulthood and Social Recognition
Chapter 4.From Adulthood as a Goal to Youth as a Value
Chapter 5.New Adult Voices I: The Meaning of Adulthood
Chapter 6.New Adult Voices II: Without a Center that Holds

Conclusion: Redefining Adulthood

Epilogue
Bibliography

&this book will be useful for scholars and students who want to explore and grasp the meaning of being an adult today. What is especially interesting is how the author expounds his main premise. Blatterers arguments are grounded on the work of traditional sociology theorists (e.g. Durkheim, Weber), and he also critically explores theories of individualization, the life course, and biography of modernity (e.g. Bauman, Beck, Giddens, Honneth).Within this theoretical framework, the author engages in a discussion of emerging social trends and compares them to the traditiolÃ#