Coming Up Short: Working-Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty

Silva, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, explores the impact of neoliberal economics and the ongoing recession on young individuals struggling to enter the workforce and come to terms with adulthood. Grounding her research in 100 interviews conducted with working-class men and women in Lowell, Mass., and Richmond, Va., Silva reveals a generation disillusioned with the system: they feel they’ve been betrayed by school guidance counselors, crippled by debt, lied to about their potential, and deceived by their own government. A sense of “powerlessness and mystification” clouds their pursuit of stability; job markets are abysmal; shifting gender roles have reshaped notions of intimacy and marriage, and many are opting out of relationships all together. They perceive themselves to be “completely alone, responsible for their own fates,” insisting that if they must “survive on their own, then everyone else should too.” Silva asserts that in order to cope, working-class people have developed a flinty and rugged individualism, but at the cost of community and solidarity. Impeccably researched and skillfully articulated, Silva’s work is a timely primer on the current state of blue-collar Millennials. (Aug.)