Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

Transitions to Adulthood

Instructor(s): Ngina Cheteji, Economics

Will you be able to find a job after you graduate? What do the economic, social, and policy landscapes look like for today’s young adults who are seeking to craft independent lives? In this seminar we will examine the economics of the transition to adulthood. While there are many ways to define adulthood, social science researchers typically focus on a number of economic and socio-demographic markers, such as the completion of schooling, having a job, marriage, purchasing one’s own home, and starting a family. Moreover, researchers and US society more generally have expected these events to unfold in a particular sequence. We will study ways that recent changes in the economy, in society, and in the political-institutional environment in the US have altered the traditional path to adulthood and modified ways of thinking about the term. We also will examine social science research methodology in order to understand the role that statistics and qualitative data can play in constructing an argument.