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Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
14. I can hazard another speculation, if no one minds.
Fri Feb 22, 2013, 09:55 PM
Feb 2013

.. it has nothing to do with "wiring" or evo psych or any of that- it's purely sociological and really just a hunch. Call it the "grass is greener" syndrome. Men- maybe not even so much the Millennials in college now but certainly my cohort and those probably 10 years younger.. grew up seeing lots of "successful", educated, and fundamentally frustrated and/or unhappy men of their dads' generation. Women of the same age, likewise, grew up seeing lots of frustrated, unhappy moms and women who were unable to pursue fulfilling careers due to entrenched sexism.

The overwhelming sense I had- across the board- with the generation of my own parents (call them the "Mad Men" generation) was that they felt shoehorned into a world which stopped existing not long after. They were (for the most part) too old to be hippies, stuck in cardboard careers and early marriages while the folks 5-10 years younger got naked at woodstock. This led to things like their subsequent divorce explosion IMHO.

I think a lot of people were lost, and unhappy, for instance during the 70s- for real practical reasons like discrimination in the workplace as well as deeper philosophical ennui. So I think for Gen X, for instance, there was a broad determination to notdowhatourparentsdid; but what that translates to, in reality, depends on what the parents did not do, as well.

This is not to discount the point made in the article about wage disparity on graduation, either- I suspect that is likely a factor, certainly with younger people... although it displays a marked lack of foresight on the part of the men who are dropping out.

If I were to guess I would say that women are better at sticking with things because they are WCGreen Feb 2013 #1
I dislike dichotomies like that ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #2
Socially conditioned to be that way perhaps MadrasT Feb 2013 #3
Tradtional American anti-intellectualism is now differentially harming young men, IMO eridani Feb 2013 #9
absolutely. we had to fight "Tradtional American anti-intellectualism" thru out seabeyond Feb 2013 #20
Those are gender stereotypes. Dash87 Feb 2013 #11
"men are not nurturing or in any way worse with children." seabeyond Feb 2013 #21
Those are gender stereotypes Dash87 Feb 2013 #12
omg... wc. lol. i have one sons that thrives on adult behavior. he will make it thru. seabeyond Feb 2013 #19
Testosterone? applegrove Feb 2013 #4
Why would you say that? ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #5
I read it somewhere on the DU a few months ago. Younger guys are out and about and not applegrove Feb 2013 #6
Hmm ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #7
so much of the stuff we say about T is a myth. they now come out saying it helps for fair play seabeyond Feb 2013 #22
Just my two cents here. al_liberal Feb 2013 #8
MRA groups have turned this upside down Sheldon Cooper Feb 2013 #10
I hear it from someone in my life MadrasT Feb 2013 #13
then i say... parents, do you fuckin' job, lol and give the boys the tools to make it thru seabeyond Feb 2013 #23
I can hazard another speculation, if no one minds. Warren DeMontague Feb 2013 #14
That is interesting ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #16
I think there is truth in what you wrote n/t MadrasT Feb 2013 #18
what i see a lot of is hopelessness. on the one hand knowing a college degree provides a security seabeyond Feb 2013 #24
Yes. Warren DeMontague Feb 2013 #29
a Barista at Starbucks and a Barista at Starbucks with a B.A. seabeyond Feb 2013 #30
As a Physics major answering these types of problems were details... discntnt_irny_srcsm Feb 2013 #15
I want an explanation of the Higgs boson ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #17
Let me first apologize.... discntnt_irny_srcsm Feb 2013 #25
LOL ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #27
Physics books... discntnt_irny_srcsm Feb 2013 #28
You know I had to google Fitzgerald Contraction! ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #31
Have a t-shirt: discntnt_irny_srcsm Feb 2013 #32
LoL ismnotwasm Feb 2013 #33
I like the safety green myself. discntnt_irny_srcsm Feb 2013 #34
A desire to earn a living and get hitched socialindependocrat Feb 2013 #26
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