Linus Owens teaches sociology at Middlebury College and will be here to speak about the history of Halloween. Holidays are when societies celebrate and reaffirm their central values and structures. Traditionally a night for children, Halloween has recently become a major holiday for young adults. It’s no coincidence that this is happening alongside a broader crisis and transformation of adulthood. Young people aren’t growing up like they used to, both because they refuse to follow traditional paths and because they are denied access to those same paths. Caught in between childhood and adulthood, between choice and constraint, emerging adults are social monsters. And if you want to understand monsters, you look at their natural habitat, Halloween. More than a night of candy and costumes, Halloween provides a powerful lens for studying how emerging adults are responding to the shifting economic and cultural constraints and opportunities facing young people these days.
This is event is sponsored by Henry Sheldon Museum.
This talk is free and open to the public.