misfit: A person whose behavior or attitude sets them apart from others
cohort: A group of persons who were born during the same time period and who experience particular social changes within a given culture in the same sequence and at the same age
transition: change in roles and statuses that represents a distinct departure from prior roles and statuses
trajectory: long-term pattern of stability and change, which usually involves multiple transitions
social age: age-graded roles and behaviors expected by society - in other words the socially constructed meaning or various ages.
Alright, those definitions are important.
I am a misfit. I always, jokingly, say I should have been 20 years old in 1950. Maybe that way I'd be married by this age. Maybe then I'd be wearing a dress every day. Maybe then people would respect the role of a man and a woman and their DIFFERENCE. Obviously, this isn't entirely a joke to me.
Now I didn't think I'd think of this while doing my homework. But my homework is all about the rest of those definitions and well, I had to write a (1 page) reaction paper to it. Well, I sure did.
The readings at the beginning of Chapter 1 that depict real life stories all tell how one person’s way of life and culture is not just made overnight. It is a result of generations’ efforts, tragedies, life choices, etc. After understanding this and proceeding to read the first few paragraphs of the text I started to realize just how this has played out in my own life and generation.
The section about cohorts uses the baby boomer population to illustrate. “They suggest that ‘boomers’ responded to the economic challenges of their demographic bubble by delaying or avoiding marriage, postponing childbearing, having fewer children, and increasing the presence of mothers in the labor force.” (Hutchison 12). This cohort had unique circumstances after World War II which to cope and manage they had to alter the way of life they had before.
Though the link between baby boomers and modern day feminists has been a long time coming and would require extensive explanation, I firmly believe there is one. I live during the third wave of feminists and among this group I have felt forced into a common trajectory. The understanding being anyone my age will graduate high school single, attend and graduate higher education, pursue a career, and, finally, marry and have children. I do not fit into this particular social age. I would prefer marriage before or during college that I may or may not attend, working as supplement, having children and then work in the home as a stay-at-home-mom. A title which I hate to utter due to such a negative connotation it has been given these days.
After years of coping and learning to be okay with this I have also started to learn how our culture got to be this way. Out of necessity people made distinct and drastic transitions. Time flies and not even a century later it’s a completely different environment. The cohort I was born into is not accepting of the trajectory I would design for myself. After reading this chapter I have realized how common, stressful and real this experience is.
Basically, thanks to the dang baby boomer era everything changed. Not one person's fault. But I am hanging on to the hope that one day people will remember how we were functioning back then and realize it's okay to do things old-fashioned every once in a while. Maybe when my daughter grows up history will have repeated itself and she won't be expected to know where she's attending college by time she is in 8th grade.
Yeah, I saw middle schoolers on a campus tour at CSUN. Ridiculous.
AKA Donna Reed,
Angela
