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To Download the PDF File Getting There: Generations X and Y on Changing Ages, Stages and Processes of Social Maturation in Postmodern Times Kelly S. Landon, B.A.; M.A. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In partial fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Department of Sociology and Anthropology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario May 14, 2015 © Kelly S. Landon 2015 Abstract Ages, stages and processes of social maturity were examined as the generation and age specific concept of the 'Quarterlife Crisis,' as it is presented in popular culture, was called into question. This research was inductive and used grounded theory methodology to explore and analyze social maturity, individualization and personal life. A literature review of statistical articles provided a demographic backdrop for the discussion of emerging and inventing adulthood(s). Through a discussion of generations and a re-tracing of sociological developmental models of the family and psychological models of individual psycho-social development I have re- contextualized and re-framed the concept of the QLC. The data consisted of: 1) newsprint media; 2) popular literature and self-help books; and 3) twenty-seven qualitative, face-to-face interviews; and 4) autoethnographic field notes of the author's personal experience. The participants presented as the social hosts of two sets of generationally specific cultural norms and expectations. These often conflicting generational discourses can be detected in their narratives between their descriptions of their expectations for their twenties and the everyday, lived reality of those years. Changing the order and timing of social development on the individual level has an impact on the taken for granted 'common sense' concept of 'growing-up.' I am suggesting that the meaning of growing-up is shifting, being transformed, in large part because women have had to adapt to unexpected roles and/or to playing well-established and expected gender roles in new ways. My ability to generalize is limited because of the homogeneity of the women interviewed. However, it was ‘found’ that in the absence of and/or altering of the anticipated 'adult' role(s), they worked to redefining the meanings and/or markers for 'growing-up' for themselves such that an emphasis on age-related stages begins to give way to flexible processes of social maturity. As women told their ‘coming of age’ stories, it became increasingly clear that they were often talking about ‘getting there,’ and about adulthood as a journey and a process rather than simply a destination with a series of set stages. Some of the processes that women engaged in were: 1) questioning and re-defining of the meaning and markers of 'growing-up' for themselves; 2) taking responsibility for and care of themselves and/or others; 3) making decisions autonomously; 4) actively re-constructing their identity; and 5) coordinating their ‘personal life.’ I see this as reflective of the process of individualization and the impact of neoliberal discourses. Difficult emotional feelings seemed to persist where residual traditions were present and when women held onto romanticized notions of motherhood, family life and a lockstep order of the way personal life was ‘expected’ to unfold. Further, as a sociological extension to Oliver Robinson’s psychological model for the QLC, I have argued that social barriers can also create quarterlife challenges where people, women in particular, experience standing on the outside of expected and desired roles because of actual social, political, and economic barriers rather than being trapped by the individual’s psychological ‘illusion’ of being ‘stuck’ in an unwanted relationship or work role, as Robinson suggests. ii Acknowledgments: Thank you to my Supervisor, Alan Hunt for always encouraging every step I made toward the completion of this project. Thank you for always asking the most insightful question to help direct my learning. Your guidance has been most valuable. Thank you to Andrea Doucet for teaching me how to listen, ever so carefully, to people's voices, narratives and everyday lives. Thank you to Xiaobei Chen for your dedication and attention to detail in your reading of my work was most appreciated. Thank you to my first mentors Gerry Coulter, Loretta Czernis, and Melissa Clark-Jones. Thank you for 're- teaching' me how to learn and how to teach. Thank you to my parents, Terry and Suzanne Landon. I know you worked so hard to help make this opportunity possible. Thank you to my children, Jacob and Olivia. You are truly my greatest joy. Thank you to my husband, Wade. You always encouraged me. iii Table of Contents Abstract....................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments: .....................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ iv Preface and Outline of Chapters: .............................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 Defining Generations and The Research Question: .................................................................... 1 The Contribution to Scholarship: ............................................................................................................ 1 Defining a Generation: ........................................................................................................................... 3 Conceptualizing Inventing and Emerging Adulthood: .......................................................................... 11 Demographically Defining a Generation: ............................................................................................. 15 Marriage Family and Household, Education, and Employment ....................................................... 15 Chapter 2 Critical Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 20 Re/Defining The QLC: .......................................................................................................................... 20 Differentiating the argument from Self-Help Literature: ...................................................................... 27 Social Change and Socialization: ..................................................................................................... 29 Basic Trust Risk Assessment: ............................................................................................................ 32 Personal Life: ................................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3 Social Location:......................................................................................................................... 38 Introduction: ......................................................................................................................................... 38 Socially Locating My Response:........................................................................................................... 38 My 'Trouble with Normal' ..................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 4 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 47 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 47 Auto-Ethnography ................................................................................................................................ 52 Qualitative Face-to-Face Interviews: .................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 5 Retracing Theories of Families and Psychosocial Development .............................................. 71 Introduction: ......................................................................................................................................... 71 The Questions: ...................................................................................................................................... 72 Developmental Models: Introduction to the Theoretical Models Being Examined ............................... 73 Carter and McGoldrick Six Stages of the Family Life Cycle ............................................................ 76 iv Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development: ............................................................................... 78 Duvall and Miller's Family Life Cycle Model as it Relates To Erikson's 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development ..................................................................................................................................... 80 Carter and McGoldrick's developmental model of the family ........................................................... 85 Jeffery Arnett's Emerging Adulthood and Stage Theories ................................................................ 88 Canadian Demographics, Family Life Cycles, and Life Courses .......................................................... 90 Chapter
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