Thursday, February 5, 2009

Adolescence Mirrors Society

As we all read, adolescence is a fairly new part of our life stages and is very much so socially constructed. I would agree that biology plays A role in adolescence but I believe the society kids grow up in is THE most determining factor. It is sort of the nature v. nurture debate often discussed in sociology and psychology. Were we born this way or have our life experiences made us this way? Along the same lines as the authors, I belive it is both working together. However, a clear way to show the influence of society is to look at how adolescence has changed throughout history.

For example, take a look at this picture of young boys working in a cigar box factory.



They are probably working to support their families who recently moved to the city.

Today, these young boys would probably be playing video games or doing a whole lot of nothing.

Because we have such a high standard of living adolescents do not need to spend their days working. They have the free time that most adults work to try and achieve.
Interestingly though, if our economy continues as it is right now for an extended period of time, we might see more adolescents helping to support their families. This again shows that adolescents reflect the "social, political and economic conditions" (text p. 20) of the time.
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4 comments:

  1. Tim FlahertyFebruary 5, 2009 at 8:17 PM

    I am in complete agreement with you on the fact that adolescence is in fact a socially constructed portion of our lives. In our current culture, children do not possess the desire to work to support themselves, and in particular those from well off families may not have work experience at all. However, as our situation continues to worsen economically in general, I do feel that it could result in a shift to meet the current situation, and hence the nature of shifts in definitions corresponding with the times, as well as society in general.

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  2. Mike JensenFebruary 7, 2009 at 9:44 AM

    Great points! I agree totally that it seems that adolescence is socially constructed and it depends on where you live how you expreience the transformation from childhood to adulthood. You mention todays economic troubles meaning more children may have to help support their families. This is a very interesting topic because in a lot of ways it could change adolescence in our country for better or worse. It could alos great a even greater divide between those that are better off financially and those that are poor in how they experience the transition from childhood to adulthood.

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  3. Andy LathamFebruary 7, 2009 at 6:32 PM

    Interesting take on society's role in shaping adolescents...but since everyone (at least lately) seems to come down somewhere in the middle on the nature/nurture thing, is it really much of a debate anymore?

    And what about adolescents who DO work? Granted, most of them aren't doing it to support their starving family, but what incentives do they have for working, and do you think it preps them in some way for taking on the "responsibilities" (read: routines) of adulthood?

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  4. AmyFebruary 8, 2009 at 11:23 AM

    Thank you for pictures!

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