A nation of Terrys

Slacker descendants of the postwar middle class are depleting America's social capital | Janie B. Cheaney

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Let's call him Terry. He's your cousin, your uncle, or your brother-in-law. He graduated from high school sometime between 1970 and 1990, may have attended a year of college, worked a few jobs (but none for long), married once or twice, fathered a few kids, in or out of wedlock—and failed to establish a forward motion in life. "Terry just can't seem to get it together," his mother says from time to time. "Terry's a loser," is the judgment of his former friends.

Terry is often a nice guy: friendly and personable, a fixture at family gatherings and occasional sender of Christmas cards. Unless he's living with you, which he might be because he doesn't make enough money to pay the rent, much less buy a home. Drugs or alcohol are part of his problem but not, you suspect, the cause of it. And what is that cause? It's hard to say. For whatever reason, Terry just can't function as a fully responsible adult.