Oxford University Press
September 2011
On Sale: September 1, 2011
296 pages ISBN: 0199828024 EAN: 9780199828029 Kindle: B005FVPEW8 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
Life for emerging adults is vastly different today than it
was for their counterparts even a generation ago. Young
people are waiting longer to marry, to have children, and to
choose a career direction. As a result, they enjoy more
freedom, opportunities, and personal growth than ever
before. But the transition to adulthood is also more
complex, disjointed, and confusing.
In Lost in Transition, Christian Smith and his collaborators
draw on 230 in-depth interviews with a broad cross-section
of emerging adults (ages 18-23) to investigate the
difficulties young people face today, the underlying causes
of those difficulties, and the consequences both for
individuals and for American society as a whole. Rampant
consumer capitalism, ongoing failures in education,
hyper-individualism, postmodernist moral relativism, and
other aspects of American culture are all contributing to
the chaotic terrain that emerging adults must cross. Smith
identifies five major problems facing very many young people
today: confused moral reasoning, routine intoxication,
materialistic life goals, regrettable sexual experiences,
and disengagement from civic and political life. The trouble
does not lie only with the emerging adults or their poor
individual decisions but has much deeper roots in mainstream
American culture--a culture which emerging adults have
largely inherited rather than created. Older adults, Smith
argues, must recognize that much of the responsibility for
the pain and confusion young people face lies with them.
Rejecting both sky-is-falling alarmism on the one hand and
complacent disregard on the other, Smith suggests the need
for what he calls "realistic concern"--and a reconsideration
of our cultural priorities and practices--that will help
emerging adults more skillfully engage unique challenges
they face.
Even-handed, engagingly written, and based on comprehensive
research, Lost in Transition brings much needed attention to
the darker side of the transition to adulthood.
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