\u201cThis is not a rotten barrel of apples,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cThis is a group of young people being shaped by what\u2019s going on in our adult world.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/RachelRodgers.jpg\")
Some of the sense of being lost in today\u2019s world that young men and boys have comes from a disconnect between traditional, stereotypical masculine ideals and the realities of a changing labor market, said Rachel Rodgers, an associate professor of psychology at Northeastern. Photo by Matthew Modoono\/Northeastern University<\/p>\n
Some of it stems from a steadily widening education gap between men and women across the globe, but particularly in the U.S. and U.K., Isles noted.<\/p>\n
In every U.S. state, young women are more likely to have a bachelor\u2019s degree, graduate from high school on time, and perform better on standardized literacy tests than their male counterparts, according to the Brookings Institution<\/a>, a non-partisan education think tank. In an international comparative study, Isles\u2019 Center for Policy Research on Men and Boys found a similar gap exists in almost every country, most notably with literacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Men and boys] are starting behind, they\u2019re not catching up, the gap grows as they go through the school system and then they get spat out the other end feeling they can\u2019t rather than they can,\u201d Isles said.<\/p>\n In turn, the share of men in the U.S. workforce has steadily dropped<\/a>. Isles and Rodgers both noted that the stereotypically masculine values surrounding physical strength, which some men are still taught, are no longer as valued in the labor market. Instead, soft skills like interpersonal communication and empathy, which were traditionally viewed as feminine, have become more valuable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s left some young men feeling hopeless, jobless and like they can\u2019t contribute to the world, experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the lostness comes from that [sense that], \u2018We\u2019ve been given this really clear framework, but we see that it\u2019s not working,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n Isles is quick to point out that none of these issues negate the work being done to support girls and young women, work that has helped increase their opportunities in education and in the workforce. But the hopelessness some young men face needs to be addressed, he said, since it can easily be exploited by outside forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Jack in \u201cLord of the Flies,\u201d online spaces like the manosphere and influencers like Andrew Tate traffic in reactionary masculinity and misogyny. The way they point to women as the source of the world\u2019s problems can be enticing for boys feeling lost in a modern society and looking for a place to put blame.<\/p>\n The American Federation of Teachers has acknowledged<\/a> a troubling rise in misogyny in the classroom. Meanwhile, a 2025 survey of young men and boys in the U.S. found they were less supportive of gender equality<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do more to make sure that when people leave education they don\u2019t fall into worklessness because that so often leads to hopelessness and that hopelessness can lead to anger and anger leads to grievance,\u201d Isles said.<\/p>\n These changes in education and the labor market haven\u2019t come with a similar change in conversations around masculinity and what it can look like in the 21st century, Isles said. That\u2019s where shows like \u201cAdolescence\u201d and \u201cLord of the Flies\u201d can help kickstart a conversation, especially for boys who lack a prominent male role model or father figure.<\/p>\n