Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z

Abstract

Adulthood has a history. This book explores how concepts of adulthood have changed over time in Britain and the United States from 1350 to the present day through eleven case studies. Ideas of adulthood are currently under intense scrutiny, as individuals increasingly reach midlife without necessarily acquiring the 'traditional' markers of maturity. Yet this volume shows that this is not a uniquely turbulent period, and it does not represent the overturning of norms that were previously settled and unquestioned. Expectations for adults have altered over time, just as other age-categories such as childhood, adolescence and old age have been shaped by their cultural and social context. In historicising adulthood, this collection is the first to employ adulthood as a category of historical analysis, arguing that consideration of age is crucial for all scholarship that addresses power and inequality. Collectively, the authors explore four key ideas: adulthood as both burden and benefit; adulthood as a relational category; collective versus individual definitions of adulthood; and adulthood as a static definition. The book also engages with the intersectional identities of gender, race, class, sexuality and disability, and how these affect understandings of adulthood: who gets to be an adult, and who decides?