From the archive
The Social Wealth Men Without College Degrees Need
Bruno V. Manno argues that men without college degrees need more than job training or credentials. They need “social wealth”: relationships, mentors, institutions, and pathways that help them build stable, connected lives rather than be left behind.
“So as the college degree has increasingly become the great sorting function in American life, men without degrees have increasingly found themselves sorted out,” write the authors of Nobody to Call, a new report on friendship, community, and purpose among men without college degrees.
These men did not become disconnected from work, friendship, and community all at once. That separation unfolded slowly, as they lost touch with the people and institutions that build a stable life.
A man leaves high school without a clear next step. Daily routines vanish and friends scatter. As work becomes unstable, he finds no mentors to offer support and no community institutions to which he can turn. The young man who was once merely uncertain slowly becomes an adult man without connections.
"Many describe purpose in relational terms: being fathers, uncles, mentors, neighbors, workers, and community members."
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