Buying In: On Adulthood and Homeownership Ideologies

Abstract

The way that adulthood is conceptualised as a life stage is strongly influenced by wider social and economic structures. In many Western societies, the status of full adulthood has been related to property, and in particular, landownership. In Australia, the UK and the US in particular, buying a home has become a popular marker of reaching adulthood. However, in the twenty-first century, and particularly after the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008, questions are being raised about the naturalised associations between homeownership and adulthood. This chapter examines the relationship between adulthood, citizenship and property, and considers how other experiences of home, such as renting and living with extended families, have been problematised in media debates. I begin with the historical and cultural context for contemporary understandings of adulthood, and the connection between adult suffrage and property ownership. Then I outline a case study of a dramatic shift in Australia’s property system during the mid-twentieth century that entrenched homeownership as a symbol of adult status. Finally, I consider the ways in which adulthood is being reconceptualised as the neoliberal emphasis on individual homeownership faces dissent.