ABSTRACT
This essay follows up the arguments presented in my recently published book What’s Happened to the University: A Sociological Explanation of its Infantilisation (Routledge 2016). As a sociology professor, I am interested in the cultural influences that have promoted the infantilization of university students. The aim of the essay is to engage with the question: Why does this generation appear to behave so different?
My focus is on the changing forms of socialization of young people and the role of schooling in creating the conditions for the infantilization of the younger generation and the accommodation of universities to these trends. I am particularly concerned about the growing tendency to erode the distinction between secondary and higher education.
My aim is to explain the cultural and sociological changes that have led to the demand for safe spaces, trigger warnings, crusade against micro-aggression, and cultural appropriation on campuses. Unlike most commentaries on the subject, I try to explain it by looking at the wider causes of the emergence of these issues. My approach is to explain rather than to blame students for a world that is not of their making. Based on my discussions with students and faculty, I claim that what has changed are the cultural norms and expectations that influence the behavior of young people.
My expertise to write this essay is based on almost forty years of research as an academic sociologist. I have published extensively on cultural issues related to the problem of socialization and infantilization. Some of this work was distilled in my book Paranoid Parenting (Alan Lane) and in various monographs. I also draw on my experience as a professor and on discussions that I have with colleagues in the UK, US, and Canada. I have also conducted interviews with students. More specifically I have spent two years studying the changing contours of campus culture and my research will be published next month in the US and the UK.
