Beyond Conformity or Rebellion: Youth and Authority in America

• NCJ Number: 133402
• Author(s): G Schwartz
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 315 pages
• Grant Number(s): 77-JN-99-0055
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study of high school youth in the early 1970's finds that the heritage of the 1960's influenced the succeeding generation.

Abstract

For conservatives, the youth culture of the 1960's was a bad dream. In contrast, the youth culture of the 1960's was a golden age for radicals. The actual situation of youth, however, is more fluid and ambiguous than either the conservative or radical position would suggest. Youth are not necessarily ready to endorse conventional morals with the enthusiasm that would please cultural conservatives, but most youth are not ready to abandon the idea of succeeding in a competitive society. What is significant for society at large is going on within the youth culture. The ways in which young people define themselves in relation to their peers and adult authorities illuminates much about conflicts implicit in parental aspirations and about the meaning of youth culture identities and styles. The author compares youth groups in six communities located in a midwestern agricultural and industrial State. He notes that local communities tend to develop distinctive moral climates. The ways in which local groups and institutions handle the problems of daily life are guided by community traditions that make sense in light of what is going on in the community. The author focuses on the manner in which youth groups accept, ignore, redefine, or reject the rules of local institutions and on the ways in which local authorities selectively define, interpret, and apply rules reflecting the community's concept of what is good, desirable, or necessary for youth. Values supporting the policies of youth-serving institutions and norms enforced by local authorities are referred to as community culture. The idea of community culture recognizes that social differentiation in the larger society influences how local institutions deal with youth groups. The author discusses youth subcultures, authority and tradition, intergenerational relations, and socialization. Supplemental information on the community study is appended. 86 references