Developing Inequalities: The Political Construction of "Youth" in Twentieth Century America "America's Natural Resource".

My dissertation, Developing Inequalities: The Political Construction of "Youth" in Twentieth Century America, argues that due to a number of changes in policies, economic conditions, and cultural beliefs about human development, reaching a normative adulthood characterized by economic and political autonomy has become increasingly difficult. While an ideal youth leads to an autonomous adulthood, those young people unable to stay on the ideal path find themselves trapped with an economic and thus social status below that of an adult regardless of age. Moreover, I reveal the key role played by race in the construction of this ideal path and policy significance of what has been treated as an age-based (therefore racially-neutral) category. My first chapter, "America's Natural Resource," (1) offers substantive arguments regarding the political motivations and racially coded language behind early child labor and compulsory education legislation and (2) lays the groundwork for arguments in later chapters about the critical role played by the form of America's economy and the image of youth publicized in the mass media in influencing the lived experiences of youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]