#Adulting: Social Science Perspectives on the Transition to Adulthood
FYSEMR 72U
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Debates about when adolescence ends and adulthood begins often lead to judgements about how long youth today are taking to reach adulthood and uncertainties about what it means to become an adult. The transition from adolescence to adulthood is often fraught with anxieties about realizing one’s dreams, getting into college, succeeding in the job market, and finding a life partner. Have the definitions and markers of adulthood changed across generations? Should these conceptualizations change or adapt to the times? Are young people today trapped in an extended adolescence?
Some experts and the popular press contend that young people today are coddled and more resistant to growing up than were those who came of age a generation or more ago. Conversely, other experts and many young adults today find that growing up is harder—harder to launch a career, burdened by student loan debt, harder to find a compatible life partner—in general, harder to achieve the life their parents have. Amid these debates, it is unclear what is meant by adulthood and whether it can or should be defined by the same markers as have been used in the past. Today’s young adults are charting their own path…or are they?
In this seminar, students will define and redefine adulthood based in multiple contexts, considering catalysts and impediments on the pathway to adulthood. Using a historical lens, we will examine and understand the contexts that elicit longer and shorter pathways to adulthood, including the role of the economic context, educational and occupational opportunities, gender, and the need to co-construct adulthood with others. Whereas societal factors are often considered contextual, this seminar focuses on societies as active agents in shaping adolescents’ beliefs about adulthood and struggling with and sometimes against adolescents as they navigate their place as adults. This seminar takes a global lens and focuses on the ways in which the transition to adulthood is a dynamic and co-constructed concept and will aid students in developing an integrative understanding on societal needs and pressures and young adults’ tools in navigating the path to adulthood.
Note: This is a Radcliffe First-Year Seminar and will include optional co-curricular activities related to the seminar topic. The seminar will be held at the Radcliffe Institute, Knafel 104, 18 Mason St.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
You may apply to as many seminars each term as you would like, but we recommend you apply to at least six in fall and three in spring.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
