By the middle of the nineteenth century American society was becoming restructured according to the concept of career. A new middle class emerged, and within it professionalism became the highest goal. The creation of the university in America provided the necessary matrix for its development, making possible new attitudes about authority,…

In the recent social revolution, rebellious middle-class youth attacked and rejected, among other values, the American middle-class belief in the worthwhileness of work. Although this recent humanistic revolt hardly affected the patterns of working life in America, it influenced attitudes toward work not only among middle-class adolescents and…

Based on 3,522 one- to two-hour personal interviews conducted in 1973, this study compares the 1973 views and attitudes of American youth to a survey conducted in the late 1960's. As a result, significant trends are traced through an era filled with events that deeply affected the lives of young people, such as the peak and ending of the Vietnam…