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Lurching Toward the Millennium: Youth in the Next Decade
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14770 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1988 |
10,354 Words |
| Author
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Ralph W. Larkin
Ralph W. Larkin is a research consultant, specializing in
academic research in the social and behavioral sciences, in
particular, research regarding social movements and
education. He ha written over thirty articles, monographs,
and books, including Suburban Youth in Cultural Crisisand
Beyond Revolution: Social Movements in Historical and
Comparative Perspective, which was cited as an "outstanding
academic book" by Choice Magazine, the Publishers Book
Exhibit, and the Midwest Book Review. |
The purpose of this paper is to examine the future prospects of the next generation of Americans. Such would be a relatively easy task if one could examine present trends and extrapolate them into the future. Society, however, does not merely change incrementally, but dialectically, making such predictions extremely difficult. For example, Jules Henry, a sensitive analyst of the stresses of contemporary culture, saw young people as helpless captives of the culture of consumption and perceived much of their behavior as a flight from the pain of an intense competitive struggle. Yet, as Henry's Culture against Man was being printed, the first indications of young people rebelling against the competitive struggle were emerging as youth from affluent suburbs were "turning on, tuning in, and dropping out."
The year 1964 witnessed the emergence of the hippie subculture in enclaves such as Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and the East Village in New York City. In that same year, ironically, Herbert Marcuse had declared that capitalist society had successfully effaced its negative critique of itself, that domination was complete, and that rebellion was impossible. Yet young people emerged as rebels against consumer-driven capitalism. It was they who were "liberating" themselves from repressive sublimation, dropping out or struggling against "the Establishment."
When attempting to analyze the future of youth, the aphorism "the past is prologue to the future" is not particularly instructive. Some trends continue unabated, others are reversed, and still others alternate between extremes. Therefore, it is hoped that an examination of the development and evolution of youth culture, along with an analysis of the forces that move it, will help us project into the future.
Youth Subcultures
"Youth" as an identifiable social category is a twentieth-century phenomenon, although scholars differ as to specific dates and whether it was "discovered" or "invented.” Youth is as much a historical as a developmental phenomenon. Its appearance, expansion, and contraction are the consequences of social change. The expansion of urban singles subcultures of high-velocity consumers provides capitalism with an increased demand for big-ticket items. Alternative life-styles have become high-level modes of consumption. Thus, an internal logical of capitalist development is to increase those in the social category called "youth.” Depending on situation and social class, the upper limits on youth can extend to thirty-five years of
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