Mary Ryan mainly argued that the ideal “self-made man” was not achieved through independence, but through building a network and supporting a family. Ryan extensively discussed how, in middle and working-class families during this time, a young man would “make himself” by becoming economically productive, starting a family, and supporting said family (p. 166). Although men were not necessarily expected to raise children, keep up with their homes, or work prestigious jobs, they were expected to work a job that paid enough to support their families' basic needs and to pass down skills, such as farming and blacksmithing, to their sons. Living situations, such as residing with parents or older family members, were frowned upon and seen as undesirable and unstable for most men. However, many young middle-class men lived at home during their early twenties to develop their sense of stability and character. Overall, Ryan argued that men became more domesticated to fulfill evolving expectations of masculinity, much of which related to building a future to support their family. (Allisya Smith)

In this section, Ryan shows how masculinity in early middle class families was increasingly defined through domestic responsibility rather than public authority alone. Men were expected to embody moral discipline, emotions restraint, and economic stability within the household, making family leadership a key marker of manhood. Masculinity, therefore, became tied to a man’s ability to successfully manage and sustain his family amid social and economic change. (Caitlyn Edwards)

In the mid-nineteenth century, with the industrial revolution and the change in social dynamics, family dynamics also shifted. The idea of a middle class in the early 1800's was a very material thing, centered soley on the jobs had and the economic stance of the head of the house. However, towards the iddle and end of the 19th century, the middle class because a culture, dictating the jobs had, the family dynamics, and the place where the family lived. Because of this, the idea of work within a family was changed. Gendered ideas of labor were endorced within the types of jobs kept. Families also decreased in size, as it was more economically advantageous to have fewer children to have to support. -Caroline Cochran

The middle class moved from being an economic position, to a culture of privacy, discipline, and individual achievmeny. It was the father's job in this family to transfer the idea of being the “self-made man” onto their sons, leading by example by providing for their family and conforming to the middle class culture and work of the time. -Caroline Cochran

In Utica, older male children increasingly began to take on jobs of their own once they reached a certain age in order to earn a portion of their own economic support. Schools were only open to children up to around the age of 15, and after this age they started to hold a significant portion of employed positions in the area. Similarly to their fathers, these boys now held a masculine position of power within their family, sourced from their new incomes. These juvenile workers began at the lowest rungs of the economic ladder, beginning the ultimate test of their parents' ability to help them eventually achieve higher-status employment. (Noah Rutkowski)

Apart from discussions of middle-class masculinity, M. Ryan argues that maternal supervision over children had a particular goal of reproducing hegemonic social, moral, and gender norms through the cultivation of conscience. In the context of 19th-century America, the notion of conscience was associated with self-control, honesty, frugality, and other bourgeois values. In addition, M. Ryan emphasizes that conscience helped to delineate boundaries between classes, serving as a certain institutional framework for the expression of middle-class personality. This institution was unable to fully prepare children for occupational roles, but it still constituted a powerful mechanism of socialization for middle-class families. - Nikolai Kotkov

As the US became more industrialized and fathers increasingly worked out of the home, women gained more control over the socialization of their children. Mothers were expected to teach their kids traits that would be valuable for their future careers, such as industry, temperance, and self-control—traits that Ryan describes as the spirit of a small business man. However, at-home moral education no longer seemed like enough in terms of vocational training, so many fathers called for the establishment of a school system specifically meant to prepare male children for their future roles in the economy. (Noah Rutkowski)

Education became more prominent in the middle-class to create the class reproduction of their children when industrialization took away the opportunities for fathers to teach their sons how to be in the family trade. Fathers going into more industrialized jobs created a space in the family where mothers were expected to instill the moral teachings and further teachings of the children. But, Ryan makes note of how mothers were becoming more frustrated with their sons when they could no longer teach their sons by themselves, this caused the middle-class parents to send their sons to schools to ensure that they would be gaining an education that will keep them in their class status as a means of class reproduction. (Sage Milton)

Many native-born middle class men, rather than moving to a boarding house like their immigrant peers, remained with their families into adulthood as they attempted to further their careers. This was often in part to due the emphasis on education; young men would pursue further education while living in their parents house. However, there were some men who lived with their parents years after they started working. Ages of marriage also became delayed, with many man marrying close to the age of 30. The expectations for a husband and father were often economic; if a man couldn't afford to support a wife and children as the sole breadwinner then having a family might have to be postponed until he could.(Cameron Spivy)