Analysis of Adolescence

A social psychological analysis of adolescence must never forget that two parties are involved: on one side is society, if not civilization, and on the other side is the individual. The parties do not always share identical interests, goals, and needs, but they are intricately interrelated. An investigation aspir- ing to completeness must attend to both. In the preceding chapter, the societal and civilization setting was brought into focus. The present chapter shifts levels of examination and focuses on the individual's personality processes as they take place during the adolescent phase of his or her life span. While this appears to be an abrupt change of level, it is justified by the fact that societal and personal realities fail to manifest themselves in identical ways. Hence I feel that both parties must be introduced at the beginning of the book. Among the major processes that occur in personality development are the learning of roles and the crystallization of a personal identity. The stirring of these intimately intertwined elements is at its most intense during adolescence, and this chapter discusses processes that go into the making of the human personality. Growing up in a modern urban-industrial society has become a complex venture; traditional ideas social scientists and psychologists have held about the socialization process are largely anachronistic. In a sense, modern Homo sapiens no longer is in control of a unitary personality system, but must be understood from the perspective of a number of social-psychological concepts. While it is true that the young child depends heavily on an immediate group environment for physical survival, this does not mean that a young person, once he or she has learned how to relate to abstract ideas and images, must remain on the relatively primitive level of relating only to physically present persons. People's effort to understand themselves and their universe is not limited, although highly influenced, by membership groups. Direct physical contact with other persons is not necessary to absorb ideas, philosophies, and religions. Conflict between older and younger generations is a perennial issue. The social dynamics of every society undergoing change promote tension between generations. Postindustrial society seems singularly afflicted, and a number of points show how this has come about (Macmillan, 336).

Part of the interpretation of the lifetime gap lies in the stride of communal change. In a rapidly changing society, established and respected norms of one generation become obsolete to the next. The older generation may greet innovations with mixed emotions ranging from caution to hostility. Nostalgia for the good old days is the universal reaction of elders to unfamiliar behavior patterns. The older generation's lack of familiarity with new styles frequently labels innovations as weird, immoral, or subversive. These epithets, describing the younger generation, can be found in the diaries of virtually all eras. Exceptions to this rule are limited to a few simply-structured tribal societies in isolated localities in which the pace of social change is minimal (Christie, 303).

The American ethos considers the right ...