ANNOUNCEMENTS
- No office hours today
- No class Friday
- Monday, exams returned
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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, MODULE 5
- right to work/right not to work
- right to vote
- criminal law--right to be treated leniently
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MODULE 3 - ADULTHOOD
- Becoming an adult (today)
- Is adulthood in some sense the prime of life? (Sept 29, Oct 1)
- Midlife crisis--what, why, how to solve (Oct 3, 6))
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WHAT IS ADULTHOOD & WHEN DOES IT BEGIN?
Start with a bunch of facts -- some of them are in Julie Beck, "When do you become an adult?"
Beck says adulthood is "socially constructed." What does that mean?
- not set in stone, shaped by social attitudes and practices, can change
- breakfast food
- not simply constructed by individual
- socially constructed categories can have a biological element
Which of the factors on the chart are relevant to the adulthood "social construct"?
- chronological - could there be a 6 year old adult?
- biological - is anyone an adult before puberty? does brain and collarbone development have to finish?
- legal - which legal line matters most? are people adults at different points in different states?
- cultural - do these things define adulthood or are they just "rites of passage"?
- psychological - are these part of the definition?
- achievements - are these part of the definition?
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EMERGING ADULTHOOD
Jeffrey Arnett--author of the article on stages we read before - discussed in Julie Beck's article
- We don't go directly from childhood to adulthood
- We first go through a stage he calls "emerging adulthood"
- Flailing is normal for an emerging adult
Jeffrey Arnett: this is a new stage brought about by 4 social forces
More evidence for emerging adulthood as a new life stage--
