Originally aired on September 25, 2008.
Tom Fudge : Growing up is a fact of life that has a physical meaning, and a psychological and cultural one. Physically, we still mature in much the same way, and at much the same pace, as human beings always have. But culturally and psychologically we take a lot longer to become adults these days.
It wasn't so long ago that people became adults and acted like adults after they got through puberty. But now we have high-school, then college. And a lot of people, me included, did not jump right into gainful employment immediately following college graduation. But sociologist Michael Kimmel says that period of extended adolescence among men has become more profound, more stifling and more difficult to escape.
Guest
- Michael Kimmel , professor of sociology and leading scholar in the field of gender studies at State University of New York, Stony Brook. He's the author of "Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men."
