A01=Susanne Schmidt
age
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aging
ambition
american society
antifeminist backlash
Author_Susanne Schmidt
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Category1=Non-Fiction
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Category=JM
Category=NHK
change
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controversial
controversy
COP=United States
cultural studies
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
double standards
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feminism
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gender
historical
history
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Language_English
life
lifetime
living
male-centered
masculinist
masculinity
men
middle-aged
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popular culture
Price_€10 to €20
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psychological
psychology
sexism
social science
softlaunch
united states of america
usa
women
Product details
- ISBN 9780226637143
- Format: Paperback
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 10 Jan 2020
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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The phrase "midlife crisis" today conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility--an affluent, middle-aged man speeding off in a red sports car with a woman half his age--but before it become a gendered cliche, it gained traction as a feminist concept. Journalist Gail Sheehy used the term to describe a midlife period when both men and women might reassess their choices and seek a change in life. Sheehy's definition challenged the double standard of middle age--where aging is advantageous to men and detrimental to women--by viewing midlife as an opportunity rather than a crisis. Widely popular in the United States and internationally, the term was quickly appropriated by psychological and psychiatric experts and redefined as a male-centered, masculinist concept.
The first book-length history of this controversial concept, Susanne Schmidt's Midlife Crisis recounts the surprising origin story of the midlife debate and traces its movement from popular culture into academia. Schmidt's engaging narrative telling of the feminist construction--and ensuing antifeminist backlash--of the midlife crisis illuminates a lost legacy of feminist thought, shedding important new light on the history of gender and American social science in the 1970s and beyond.
Susanne Schmidt is a research associate and lecturer in history at Freie Universitat Berlin.
