Where the Millennials Will Take Us Lib/E: A New Generation Wrestles with the Gender Structure

Are today's young adults gender rebels or returning to tradition? In Where the Millennials Will Take Us, Barbara J. Risman reveals the diverse strategies youth use to negotiate the ongoing gender revolution. Using her theory of gender as a social structure, Risman analyzes life history interviews with a diverse set of Millennials to probe how they understand gender and how they might change it. Some are true believers that men and women are essentially different and should be so. Others are innovators, defying stereotypes and rejecting sexist ideologies and organizational practices. Perhaps new to this generation are gender rebels who reject sex categories, often refusing to present their bodies within them and sometimes claiming genderqueer identities. And finally, many youths today are simply confused by all the changes swirling around them. As a new generation contends with unsettled gender norms and expectations, Risman reminds us that gender is much more than an identity; it also shapes expectations in everyday life, and structures the organization of workplaces, politics, and, ideology. To pursue change only in individual lives, Risman argues, risks the opportunity to eradicate both gender inequality and gender as a primary category that organizes social life.

About the Author :
Barbara J. Risman is Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the author of Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition and coeditor of Families as They Really Are and Handbook of the Sociology of Gender. Emily Beresford is a professional audiobook narrator who is a nerd for books, no matter the genre. She absolutely loves all forms of literature, and that transfers to the listeners through her passionate performances. She primarily works out of her professional home studio with top notch recording equipment and software, but will occasionally travel to other studios for human interaction. Emily earned her BA in liberal studies from Green Mountain College in Vermont, with concentrations in creative writing, music, and English. In 2013 she was nominated for an Audie Award by the Audiobook Publishers Association and received an Earphones Award from AudioFile magazine. She works for several major publishers and voices books for many bestselling authors. She lives in the Midwest with her beautiful, fun family.

Review :

"Provocative, timely, and lucid, Where the Millennials Will Take us provides a powerful framework for studying gender and inequality today."