{"text":[[{"start":7.34,"text":"The discourse around young men’s place in the world is frustrating. On the one hand, the idea that men may genuinely be having a harder time of it is often summarily dismissed. On the other, for many young men, the scapegoat for difficulties is either women or feminism. Both are wrong."}],[{"start":24.46,"text":"Any discussion must start by acknowledging that less-educated young men have been uniquely downwardly mobile over the past generation. But the explanation for this is primarily economic, not cultural."}],[{"start":36.26,"text":"The defining labour market shift in recent decades has been the steep decline in manufacturing jobs and the strong growth of those in knowledge-intensive services and healthcare. The former disproportionately hurt less-educated men, and the compensating gains went to everyone but them: the growth of knowledge work boosted the well-educated (men and women alike), while healthcare jobs have primarily gone to women (with and without degrees)."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":60.3,"text":"The result is that across North America and Europe alike, women’s economic standing has climbed regardless of education level and well-educated men’s has broadly held up (and remains just about higher than anyone else’s), while that of the least-educated men has collapsed. Among young adults, the male breadwinner is no longer the norm in several high-income countries, including the UK."}],[{"start":81.46,"text":"This seismic restructuring means that every group either has high or ascending economic status with the sole exception of young, less-educated men."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":89.5,"text":"Both the feminist movement and the shift towards healthcare and services were tides that lifted all women’s boats. But men’s trajectories have diverged, creating a solidarity gap."}],[{"start":99.74,"text":"Some wonder why young non-college men are drawn to the “manosphere” despite there being many positive male role models elsewhere. The problem is that those role models are overwhelmingly on a different track — well-educated men in white-collar jobs who were never going to struggle to achieve respect or a family. This simply is not the reality facing most non-college-educated men. They cannot, for the most part, get jobs that provide the status their father or grandfather had. They know it, and so do their would-be partners."}],[{"start":125.38,"text":"Non-graduate young women, on the other hand, are for the most part upwardly mobile (their mothers and grandmothers often didn’t work, at least not in full-time careers) and are unsurprisingly dismayed when they discover the types of men their mother and grandmother settled down with are simply not out there."}],[{"start":143.84,"text":"As I see it, there are broadly two ways the trajectory of less-educated young men could reverse. One is to adapt to the radically new labour market. In the “head, hand, heart” job typology framework, the good “hand” occupations are mostly gone. “Head” jobs go to graduates. That leaves “heart”. Caring and personal service employment is rising, accounting for essentially all net job gains over the past few years in many rich countries."}],[{"start":170.34,"text":"But we should hardly expect the sons or grandsons of factory workers to move seamlessly into these roles. Much as the feminist movement actively (and rightly) fought to ensure women were welcome in erstwhile male-dominated professions, we will now need policies, role models and a cultural conversation that help men feel welcome in female-dominated sectors and spaces."}],[{"start":191.68,"text":"The other option for less-educated young men also involves focusing on care and interpersonal skills, but in the dating market instead of the labour one. There is already progress here. The amount of childcare and housework done by the average male partner has been marching steadily upwards in recent years and the imbalance between childcare from mothers and fathers is lower than ever. Graduate men are leading the charge here, but non-college men, too, are becoming more active dads and more supportive partners."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":221.08,"text":"This runs counter to the popular narrative of toxic masculinity. In much the same way that manosphere influencers paint young men a misleading picture of the path to success, they also paint young women a misleading picture of what the average young man today is like as a partner."}],[{"start":236.74,"text":"I’m optimistic about how all of this will end up. Individuals and societies are remarkably good at adapting. But a key step on the way is to recognise that, yes, young non-college men are genuinely facing strong, demoralising economic hurdles and no, they are overwhelmingly not toxic throwbacks."}],[{"start":237.24,"text":"john.burn-murdoch@ft.com, @jburnmurdoch"}],[{"start":261.76,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787301507_6586.mp3"}