Several factors led to the rise of the concept of a teenager. The single greatest factor was the invention of the automobile. Adolescents who learned how to drive were able to enjoy a degree of freedom unknown to the older generations. Automobiles also changed the courtship process. Before the car, a male suitor would have had to follow a set of old-fashioned guidelines in order to date a girl. He would have to gain permission from the girl's parents, and then meet with her under the supervision of her parents. The car completely shattered those traditions. Now, the parents were removed from the experience, allowing the couple a greater degree of freedom and privacy.The automobile created a measure of space- both physical and mental- between the teenager and their parent.
The booming economy of the 1950's, along with compulsory education laws, ensured that many children were getting high school, and even college, education. Schooling was no longer a privilege, exclusively for the upper class, which meant that a growing group of young people were being identified as students. By 1936, 65% of teenagers attended high school, which caused teenagers to look to one another for advice and approval, instead of adults. Adolescents became a generation, recognized more by common experiences that came with age than by race, gender, or class.
The rise of youth culture led to an explosion of goods and services designed specifically for teenagers. As LIFE magazine wrote in 1944:
"American businessmen, many of whom have teen-age daughters, have only recently begun to realize that teenagers make up a big and special market... The movies and the theater make money by turning a sometimes superficial and sometimes social-minded eye on teenagers."Along with the rise of the teenagers came the feeling of alienation that is experienced by many teenagers today. Adolescence is the in-between of childhood and adulthood, and teenagers are expected to shoulder responsibility while still being considered immature and naive. In the book Generation on Hold: Coming of Age in the Late Twentieth Century, the authors write,
"[Adolescence] is characterized by economic and social marginality, sequestration into age-segregated groups, and extended financial and emotional dependence on parents. The young are also subject to manipulation and control by a variety of groups formed by adults who are out to protect their own interests."Alienation is often the result of the feeling of powerlessness. The repetitive actions of going to school, and then work, and then home cause many resentful feelings to the forces controlling their daily life- namely, the adults.
Although being an adolescent can have its drawbacks, the invention of the teenager has led to the rise of a separate youth culture, drawing people from different ages, races, and religions together.
Sources:
http://www.units.miamioh.edu/eduleadership/courses/334/334_what_is_teenager.html
http://time.com/3639041/the-invention-of-teenagers-life-and-the-triumph-of-youth-culture/
http://www.ushistory.org/us/46c.asp
http://www.history-of-rock.com/teenagers.htm
This is a very intriguing passage. I had never thought of teenagers as being a relatively new age classification. I would agree with most of this article that teenagers are people who have a new degree of freedom, however I do not think that very many teenagers would of had a car to drive. Most families back then and now only have one car and they are a pretty big investment. Not until fairly recently, would kids have had their own cars.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do you mean by saying that the concept of a teenager did not form until after the Great Depression? Because it seems that you are talking about more than just the use of the term "teenager" to describe adolescence. Do you mean that before they were merely categorized as children in the past, or do you mean that an actual visible shift occurred in the mentality of maturing children at that time? And do you think that without some of these catalyzing events, such as the invention of the car, the teenager would not exist? Would we think of ourselves differently today?
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ReplyDeleteTo answer Andrew's question, I believe that teenagers only became categorized as a group as a result of their economic contribution to society. For example, as Jannitta quoted before, businessmen were realizing that teenagers made up a "special market" and is perhaps the reason why they were categorized into a certain economic consumer group. Even today, so many companies cater especially to teenagers. Even on social media, there are advertisements for "teenage" clothing such as Hollister and American Eagle. Although they may not cater only to teenagers, their target audience are mainly towards teenagers and we can infer this from the fact that many of their models are young teenagers. Why do you think that teenagers became a "target audience" for certain companies in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very fascinating point, I didn't know how much impact the advances in technology would have on family traditions. I feel that this is something that we can still relate to. For example, the invention of smartphones has given teenagers another form of freedom because they are able to share and post what they would like on social media and their parents might not know about it. Today, parents are in a way afraid of the future because traditions might be broken since teens keep using their phones and are not interacting with others. Also, because of the popular use of smartphones by teens, teens are still the group of people in which markets focuses on, since they are the ones that spend most of their time on phones.
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