The Boy Problem: Male Adolescence as Social Pathology

Focusing on the beginning, middle, and especially concluding decades of the 20th century, this course examines the ways in which both expert and popular discourse in the US have conflated male adolescence with social pathology and have constructed an image of the teenage boy as both symptomatic of and responsible for the nation's ills. Particular attention will be paid to issues of gender, race, and class. Primary source readings and original research will be emphasized. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors.