Not all was well in the Golden Age, however. For one, growing up as a member of the postwar generation in the West was to live a contradiction. The Cold War meant that the new reality of increased chances for social mobility and relative affluence, and the belief in continuing economic and technological advance, was checked by the knowledge that the possibility of total annihilation was just as real. For example, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 served as a stark reminder of tragic possibilities.3 The lived contradiction of threat and opportunity underpinned one of the so-called “baby boomer” generation's defining mottos: “We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time” (Mackay 1997: 62). As we shall see in chapter 4, this attitude marks an ideological transformation in the meaning of youth that was to reverberate decades into the future and that significantly altered the meaning of adulthood.
My schematic equation—economic stability plus an explicitly sanctioned normative consensus equals a stable adult identity—is not intended to be positive nostalgia.4 After all, standard adulthood was highly gendered in an era when the labor market overwhelmingly favored men as breadwinners. It would also be a gross historical misrepresentation were this image to be generalized to include marginalized groups. The kind of stability and predictability of life suggested by this model of adulthood is based primarily upon the experiences of white, heterosexual, middle-class males; on experiences, that is, that were lived in mainstream families and reproduced in mainstream culture, whatever the extant inequalities. The crux of the matter is this: the real differences did not diminish standard adulthood's normative status as the ultimate benchmark for adult maturity. Our contemporary associations of adulthood with stability arose from that generation's experiences and expectations.
Today standard adulthood as a norm remains robust, though it may be increasingly counterfactual for many. It is still associated with the ideals of stable relationships, stable work and income, a family of one's own, and independent living (Furstenberg et al. 2003; 2004). Framed in the language of a specific kind of maturity, standard adulthood promises greater self-understanding and the self-confidence that comes with the accumulation of social competencies. In these terms, settling down is not to be shunned. When the experience of opportunity, possibility, and stability is passed from one generation to the next and is focused in a notion such as adulthood, it stands to reason that this cultural idea should become a powerful ideal.
Classic Markers of Adulthood
The achievement of adult status has to do with “sets of practical accomplishments, and repertoires of behaviour” (Pilcher 1995: 86). This is particularly necessary in modern societies due to the absence of all-encompassing, firmly instituted rites of passage to adulthood. Thus there are various signposts that serve to identify and acknowledge individuals as adults, such as age, independent living, stable relationships, parenthood, stable employment, and the right to vote, to name a few. The descriptors of adulthood discussed below are limited to those objective markers of adulthood that have long standing salience as achievements that are deeply embedded in dynamics of social recognition. As ideal-typical yardsticks for commonsense and social scientific judgments regarding individuals' status, these classic markers are the tangibles of standard adulthood.
Marriage with its ritualistic inauguration is one such instance. It is ingrained in the social imaginary and as such most closely approximates a transition ritual from adolescence to adulthood. Through marriage people enter into a union underwritten by a tacit understanding that responsibility and commitment, central notions in the cultural vocabulary of adulthood, are vital ingredients for its success. The institution of marriage and adult status are linked through the symbolism of the wedding ring. This badge of membership in the world of adults can be a sign of integrity; it can signify a shared fate; it can spell “off limits” as well as “discretion assured.” Above all, it symbolizes an act of commitment, its diminishing chances of survival notwithstanding.5 Marriage evinces the overcoming of reputed youthful self-absorption and hedonism. In everyday life it connotes the achievement of adulthood anchored in commitment and responsibility to someone (spouse) and something (a stable relationship).
As Eisenstadt (1971: 30) maintains, adult status “coincides with the transition period from the family of orientation to that of procreation, as it is through this transition that the definite change of age roles, from receiver to transmitter of cultural tradition, from child to parent, is effected.” The social validation attained through parenthood is palpable in everyday interaction. Outings with children often involve conversations with strangers, previously perhaps a rarity. In the supermarket, at the bus stop, in the park; there always appears to be someone willing to share their experiences, wanting a peek at your baby, encouraging or reprimanding your particular style of child rearing, commenting on the difficulties of work/life balance. To paraphrase a respondent (with sociological training) in my sample who had recently been “catapulted” into twin fatherhood, this is “social integration at its most intimate.” Particularly in the post-Second World War era, adulthood and family life were inextricably bound together in the social imagination. As Furstenberg et al. (2004: 35) put it with reference to the United States: “By the 1950s and 1960s, most Americans viewed family roles and adult responsibilities as nearly synonymous. In that era, most women married before they were 21 and had at least one child before they were 23. For men, having the means to marry and support a family was the defining characteristic of adulthood, while for women, merely getting married and becoming a mother conferred adult status.”
Many of us remember the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” when “be” really meant “do.” Work—showing that you are capable of “paying your own way,” “pulling your weight,” contributing to the family and to society independently of state or parents—is another commonsense marker of adulthood. Stock phrases such as “wait 'til you're out in the real world” and “welcome to the real world” are historically framed. Since the completion of the process of differentiation that assigned children their place in school and adults their place in work (Gillis 1981; Mitterauer 1992; Perrot 1997), adulthood is also partly defined by independence gained through participation in the “work society” (Offe 1984).
Independence from parents is most explicitly achieved with the realization of independent living. To this end, leaving home has long been an integral part of one's identification as an autonomous individual, because “for much of the twentieth century, home-leaving was the starting point for a range of processes that signaled the transition from youth to adulthood. Most young people left home to marry, complete their education, serve in the military, or to work. With those changes came parenthood and economic independence” (Pullum et al. 2002: 555). In Australia home ownership is part of the national imaginary; it is a dream to be made reality through hard work and frugality. A stable relationship, parenthood, and work can thus be seen as finding their culmination in the family home as the meaning-giving reference point. The key to the home—just like the key to the parental home some receive at their twenty-first birthday in Anglophone societies—also opens the door to the world of adults.
These classic markers of adulthood provide the social frame for standard adulthood, a model that not only approximates many contemporary adults' lives, but that is the normative model par excellence. Although these are by no means all the characteristics that are attributable to adulthood, they are central cultural typifications and as such impact on public opinion just as much as on social research.
Adulthood and Age
The social constitution of adulthood can be further clarified by considering the rift between social practice and biological factors. In the course of Western history the onset of puberty has been slowly but steadily occurring at ever-younger ages (Mitterauer 1992). This does not mean, however, that Western societies, in contrast to some other cultures, accept the attained physical ability to procreate as marking the transition to adulthood. Rather,