Author Archives: legallysociable

The role of housing in the unsettled lives of American 30 to 45 year olds

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Where does owning a home fit in the changing lives of adults after emerging adulthood and in “established adulthood”? Here are some hints:

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When Mehta appeared on camera bouncing her newborn in her lap, that professor started laughing sympathetically. She’d just read Mehta’s 2020 paper on the life phase from age 30 to 45, which described it as a hurricane of major changes and responsibilities. Career advances, marriage, parenthood, homeownership, care for aging parents—for many people these days, the paper had argued, all of those milestones fall in a short and furious chunk of time. And here Mehta was, embodying that point.

The connection between Mehta’s circumstances and her academic focus wasn’t a coincidence. Mehta was in her 30s when she started noticing that no one seemed to be studying her own age group. Her colleague Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, the author of Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road From the Late Teens Through the Twenties, had become an expert in ages 18 to 29. Psychologists of middle age, meanwhile, were usually observing those in their 50s and early 60s. She’d reached a part of life that was anything but quiet, yet when she looked to her field for answers, she heard relative silence.

Now, at 45, she has interviewed many, many people in this stage, which she named “established adulthood.” She believes that life for the youngish—especially for women—is getting only more hectic. The average man is parenting (a little) more than he used to, and the average woman is working outside the home (a lot) more than she used to. And compared with eras past, people today tend to be older when they begin hitting the classic landmarks of adulthood. A typical young person might once have, say, met a partner in their teens, married and started a family at 20-something, then taken on more career responsibility or begun caring for an ailing parent while in their 30s. Now all of these formative experiences are getting compressed. Many people do cherish this time, Mehta told me. But the fact remains that they’re in the “rush hour of life”—and they may be dealing with a milestone pileup…

Recently, this period of uncertainty has been getting longer: Many young people are saddled with debt, searching for work in a brutal job market, unable to afford buying a house. Building a career, a home, or lasting relationships—all things that can help shape a person’s sense of self—have become more difficult. And as emerging adulthood expands, it eats into the next stage of life.

From what I have seen of different surveys and published work, a majority of adults still want to pursue homeownership. Buying a residence is still an important part of adulthood and achieving the American Dream.

But this summary above and other work also suggests that this may be delayed and/or more difficult than in the past. The expectation in the postwar decades that young adults could buy a home in their 20s and perhaps on one family salary is hard to live up to today. A variety of social factors mean that homeownership is now delayed. This means more years of other living arrangements plus potential changes to how people feel about homeownership.

Given this increased difficulty, it would not surprise me if in the next decade or two fewer adults ages 18-45 say they want a home. When faced with obstacles, some people will turn to other priorities or adapt to the possibilities they do have. And it would get interesting if less than a majority of adults say they to own their residence; how does this change individuals, communities, the housing industry, and more?

McMansions are now just another established housing style in the United States

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There are a number of established residential architectural styles in the United States. Victorian. Colonial. Ranch. Split-level. And the McMansion.

According to this Ngram viewer result, the term McMansion entered use in the late 1990s and then its use went up a lot between 2002 and 2011.

This roughly fits with what I found in my 2012 article on defining McMansions. The multi-faceted term described a newer wave of houses in a particular cultural moment.

What the Ngram above shows since 2011 matches what I have informally seen about McMansions since 2011: they are now just part of the landscape. They are not new. Americans build, sell, and buy them. They still are derided. There are dips up and down in the Ngram viewer but it has not changed much since 2011.

New residential styles will come in the future. Changes to society, the economy, housing, and preferences will lead to new designs that will then be assessed and critiqued. Perhaps they will bear some resemblance to McMansions, perhaps they go in completely different directions. The McMansion will live on among existing and new housing styles.

What it took for a successful suburban musician to push against their suburb’s push to go to college

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A look back at the life of musician Justin Baren, member of The Redwalls, highlights how they forged a path to music success from their suburban upbringing:

Along with his older brother, Logan, Baren was an obsessive fan of the British Invasion sound of the 1960s, which he channeled into the band the brothers formed while students at Deerfield High School. Jordan Kozer, the band’s first drummer, recounted how the brothers studied Beatles albums like holy scripture; Justin would record rehearsals and require the others to spend hours listening to their mistakes to get their parts right the next time.

“He didn’t know anything else. He didn’t try anything else. Deerfield was pushing people to go to college. He and Logan didn’t care anything at all about that. They were laser focused on making this happen. There was no backup plan,” Kozer said.

The perseverance worked. On the same day of their high school graduation, the band was in Los Angeles signing a contract with Capitol Records, the U.S. label of the Beatles. Two years later, the Redwalls opened shows for Oasis in U.K. soccer stadiums…

“From a very early age, we knew the kids in high school weren’t going to be our scene,” Justin told this writer in 2005. “We wanted to get into the real music scene and not be limited by what other kids were saying or doing. We wanted to be Downtown where it was happening.”…

Despite their age, their hard work, sophisticated musical sensibilities, confidence and charisma impressed the network of music professionals in the city. The Redwalls, which included guitarist Andrew Langer, solicited the help of Mitch Marlow, then the talent buyer for a music club in Evanston, by blindly handing him a cassette tape of their music. “What nerve, they put Beatles outtakes on a cassette and are saying it’s their band,” Marlow first thought, until realizing days later the recordings were contemporary…

Marlow ended up managing the group. He booked headlining shows for them at Double Door, the Hideout and Metro. He recorded them, encouraged them to keep writing original songs and introduced them to Bob Andrews, co-founder of Champaign indie label Undertow Music, a collaboration that resulted in “Universal Blues,” the band’s 2003 debut. They were high school seniors.

To become a professional in many fields requires focus and practice. To do this by the end of high school is impressive.

It is interesting to hear that Baren and the band did this while pushing against what was expected of them in their suburban high school. Deerfield High School is a highly rated institution and like many such schools encourages students to go to college. What would parents say to students in similar schools who say they want to pursue music rather than going to college? How many high school musicians are able to secure a record deal and open for a major rock group? Is this a good life path?

And then the path toward music success moved away from their suburban community to Chicago. They played in music venues utilized by numerous music groups, small and big. They got into the music networks of promoters and venues and labels that are based in big cities.

Was there anything in their music or performances that would belie their suburban roots? Maybe not. But the story of suburban high school to major record label is rare even as there must be plenty of suburbanites among successful music artists in the United States.

Schwinn once an important Chicago company but the industry and the world changed

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A look at a new documentary on the bicycle company Schwinn tells of how it was once a Chicago company and then it was not:

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The story starts in 1895, when German immigrants Ignaz Schwinn and Adolph Arnold founded Arnold, Schwinn & Co. in Chicago. Schwinn would subsequently buy out his partner and build an enduring family business that would reign over the bicycle industry for generations, surviving the rise of the automobile, the Depression and two world wars.

In fact, the original six-story Schwinn factory at Lake and Peoria streets in Fulton Market still stands as a monument to Chicago’s erstwhile bike company, with plans to redevelop the now-vacant building into office space…

As market share dwindled, Schwinn began outsourcing production. By 1983, Schwinn ceased its Chicago manufacturing, laying off 1,800 employees and moving most of its production overseas to Taiwan.

In 1992, struggling with debt, the storied Chicago company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under fourth-generation owner Ed Schwinn…

The bike company has rolled on under a succession of new owners and is now part of Dutch conglomerate Pon, with Schwinn based in Madison, Wisconsin. But the movie focuses on the Chicago glory years, when the Schwinn brand ruled the sidewalks, schoolyards and bike lanes.

This might be the story of a number of companies over the years. They had success with lots of work and new ideas. They rose to become a known and popular brand. But then industries and places changed. People no longer wanted the product in the same way. They moved manufacturing overseas. They hit hard financial times and even though the brand name lives on, it has done so under the ownership of different companies and the company is now based in another city.

And this could also be the story of places. Chicago, like a number of American cities, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, were centers for manufacturing. American companies produced a lot for decades. And much of that went elsewhere by the end of the twentieth century. Sociologist William Julius Wilson describes these shifts and their effects on neighborhoods in When Work Disappears. The loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs was a hard blow to many cities who struggled to pursue or grow other businesses or industries in subsequent years.

In the big picture, both companies and places go through cycles and lifespans. They do not necessarily continue as they have been, even when they are successful. We tend to like the stories of their rise and it can be harder to wrestle with their falls. But both are part of the human experience.

In the hands of American Christians after World War Two: atomic bombs, the cross, newspapers, the Bible

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What should American Christians have in their hands in the years after World War Two? I recently read one answer to this in the book Jesus Springs by religious studies scholar William Schultz:

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“Senator Edward Martin (R-PA) spoke for many when he declared, “America must move forward with the atomic bomb in one hand and the cross in the other.”” (14)

This is an interesting contrast for a country: military/scientific might in one hand, the cross, a religious symbol of suffering, in the other.

This reminded me of a more common quote about holding a Bible and a newspaper in separate hands. For example, this was linked to Billy Graham:

“What a moment to take the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages.” Billy Graham in The Jesus Generation in 1971

“The 82-year-old preacher from Montreat, N.C., has been said to give his sermons “with a Bible in one hand and a Time magazine in the other,” says A. Larry Ross, his media director.” 2001 story in The Times-News

This quote supposedly goes back to theologian Karl Barth. It is a different contrast: the Word of God in one hand, reports of what is happening in the world in the other.

Both quotes get at similar ideas. Hands can only hold so much so what is there should be important. What a person holds in both hands can complement each other. They reflect particular eras. The quotes could apply to specific actors – America, pastors/evangelists – or to people more broadly.

What would be the updated version for American Christians in 2025?

My own inability to comprehend palm trees and Christmas decorations in one place

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Several times in my life I have been in warm weather locales before and after Christmas. As is true in many places in the United States, this time of year involves Christmas decorations: lights, Christmas trees, garlands, and more. I have difficulty comprehending this.

When I think of Christmas, I think of cold weather. Snow at times. Warm jackets. Hats and gloves. This is the context in which I usually see all the activities of Christmas. Christmas trees and lights go up after the temperatures have dropped and winter is near or has just begun. I grew up in and have spent most of my life in the Chicago area where this is the norm.

We all have mental grids through which information we take in passes through. We have models of how the world works. Our experiences and understandings are influenced by our settings. What we see, hear, touch, smell, and taste around us helps inform us of the world.

When we confronted with something different compared to our understanding, it can cause us to pause. How does that work? It is possible to have Christmas and 80 degree weather? People can walk outside at Christmas in shorts and short sleeve shirts? People can go to the beach on Christmas?

If I lived in such a location, I suppose I would get used to this. It would be the way it is. Then traveling to cold and snow during Christmas would seem out of the ordinary. How do those people survive frigid air each holiday season?

In the meantime, any journey I take to warmer weather around Christmas will continue to confound me. I can enjoy it while there but it does not feel like the full holiday experience. I know Christmas in one particular setting and would need a lot more time elsewhere to alter my model of what Christmas can be.

A railroad merger that would stop Chicago area practice of freight handoffs between railroads

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A proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads would end a long practice of railroads meeting in Chicago and then moving their freight from one provider to another:

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Starting in 1848, railroads raced to make Chicago the preeminent commercial and financial crossroads between booming factories on the East Coast and voracious markets and vast natural resources in the West.

But they always found it easier and cheaper to hand their freight off to each other in and around the city than to build transcontinental railroads that actually passed through Chicago. In some yards, including near McKinley Park 4 miles southwest of downtown, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern exchange groups of railcars. Elsewhere, they hand off individual shipping containers to each other and to different railroads.

By running a single transcontinental railroad, Union Pacific says it can shave one or two days off the full week that 40-foot shipping containers now spend traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago and then on to, say, the western suburbs of New York City…

With a unified rail network, Union Pacific hopes to eliminate hundreds of rubber-tire container moves each day in and around Chicago, and hundreds more between Chicago and surrounding Midwest cities like Detroit; Columbus, Ohio; and Louisville, Kentucky.

There must be more to this story. How much of this has to do with the history of when railroads were founded and which areas they serviced? How much of this is about the railroad industry and companies working together and/or competing? How much of this is due to policies about railroad mergers?

In many industries, the trend over time does seem to be consolidation among the more powerful actors. This might appear to occur for good reasons, such as being able to ship goods through Chicago from coast to coast on one railroad system. But, as the article notes, this then affects markets, prices, and consumers with fewer companies.

At this point, the railroad industry in the United States is nearing 200 years old (1826 might be the first year of commercial operation). This is a long history compared to numerous other commercial or industrial sectors in the United States. What would it take to truly transform the railroad industry at this point as it operates in a much different context than it did when the first companies were founded? Railroads are an important part of the infrastructure of the United States and making it 200 more years might require foresight and adaptation.

What society defines as “sinful” and ranking the most sinful cities

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A recent Wallethub list of the “most sinful cities in America” is built on this definition of sin:

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“Regardless of any particular religious tenets, certain activities are considered ‘sinful’ by society as a whole. Sometimes, these activities are always bad, like violent crimes or identity theft. In other cases, they may be relatively harmless in moderation but incredibly destructive when not kept under control, such as alcohol use or gambling. The most sinful cities are those where illicit activities and vices alike are the most widespread.” – Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst…

To determine the most sinful cities in America, WalletHub compared 182 cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across seven key dimensions: 1) Anger & Hatred, 2) Jealousy, 3) Excesses & Vices, 4) Greed, 5) Lust, 6) Vanity and 7) Laziness.

We examined those dimensions using 37 relevant metrics listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of sinfulness.

I find intriguing the idea that sins as defined by American society are less about religious traditions and more about social constructions of sin. Where do these ideas about sin come from and who defines them? The seven categories seem like they could match up with the traditional seven deadly sins.

If Americans see a list about sins, how many connect that to a religious meaning rather than a social meaning? If Americans grow up loosely connected to religion or are not connected at all, how do they learn about sin? Perhaps sin is more like modern capitalism which sociologist Max Weber argued lost it religious motivations and meanings decades ago. Are these measures good proxies for secularized sins?

Looking at the list of cities, some would not be a surprise. Others might be. For example, a number of cities in what would be considered the Bible Belt make the top 10. There are also some cities that some Americans might assume are higher than they are (Washington, D.C., at #35 and San Francisco at #42, for two examples).

Sanctifying Suburbia reviewed in Review of Religious Research, The Anxious Bench year end best books

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My book Sanctifying Suburbia has recently been reviewed in two places. First, in the academic journal Review of Religious Research, Jennifer O. Laderi of Baylor University writes:

Through meticulous research, he convincingly demonstrates that the convergence of evangelicalism and suburbia was not accidental, but the result of complex social, racial, economic, and theological forces that have shaped both evangelicalism and suburban life in America since World War II.

Second, historian Joey Cochran includes Sanctifying Suburbia in his “Best Books of 2025” at The Anxious Bench blog. Cochran describes the book this way:

This book examines Chicago case studies related to white evangelical flight in the twentieth-century and astutely describes the phenomena of white evangelical suburbia. Carefully cited research and meticulous analysis of data found only in this study makes Miller’s study a vital one to consult for both historians and sociologists.

Thank you to both scholars for taking the time to read the book and consider its argument.

Musician raised in the suburbs “grateful for the thousands of hours of sitting in my room playing guitar”

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How might being raised in a quiet suburban community affect a musician’s career?

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You grew up in Wheaton. What was that like?

Quiet. It’s a nice suburb, I enjoyed it. I was homeschooled, so I had a very different experience than probably a lot of people did. My mom kept our world very big — we traveled a lot. Wheaton is where I fell in love with music. I’m grateful for the thousands of hours of sitting in my room playing guitar.

Practice is required to become skilled at many tasks. Having the time, space, and skills to practice well is helpful.

Suburban bedrooms are a private space in the American suburban home. It is a place to get away from the world. One can be alone with their thoughts. In the case of practicing music, playing guitar in a bedroom isolates the activity and noise from the rest of the house. The practicing goes unobserved.

Add to this that suburbs are sometimes portrayed as being creative wastelands. Suburbs are said to be conformist, conservative, cookie-cutter. Many narratives suggest there is a suburban facade of success and attainment – happy families, polite interactions – but just below the surface are problems and divisions.

Can suburban bedrooms produce artistic talent and creativity? The majority of Americans live in the suburbs and multiple generations have grown up in the suburbs. Presumably at least a few artists, novelists, filmmakers, playwrights, and musicians have honed their craft in the suburbs, and perhaps even in their bedrooms.