Current mood:

thoughtful

Book Recommendation
Greetings all.

I've just begun reading a book I think others may be interested in, The Death of the Grown-Up, and thought of this community. From what I can tell, we have similar feelings about popular culture today, and the state of society. To an extent, it seems like a lot of us mourn the loss of decorum, etiquette, and other bygone ways.

I find the book to be illuminating as to what happened. I haven't finished it yet, but wanted to share anyway. The gist of it, I think, is that after World War II society was more affluent; and adolescents, instead of using money earned to help out the family, kept it to themselves, making them an attractive demographic. This placed an importance on the adolescent stage of childhood never seen before; it was elevated to "teenage" and the new teenagers began to shape culture instead of adults. And, as these teenagers grew in age, they felt less and less inclined to grow socially; society became more permissive of immature behaviors.

While I don't agree with everything the author has said, I think she has really brought to light a big problem with our society; namely, that adults are marginalized by society and everyone aspires to act childishly.