This essay was written for my Generation Next class: a class that focuses on youth culture in many parts of the world. The scholars I reference in this paper are listed at the end of my paper for your perusal. If you like learning about kids, this one's for you. Enjoy!
Section/Question 1: What are our class definitions of adolescence and youth? What are key developmental aspects of this life stage?
As discussed during class, the term adolescence generally involves the biological development of a human being, and the term youth has to do with the social label/status/category that is generally placed upon the 13-18-year-old demographic (Class Notes August 31, 2016). However, it is also stated that “…the human life cycle includes a period between childhood and adulthood during which its participants behave and are treated differently than either their seniors or their juniors” (Schlegel 1995:16). This limbo-like situation intersects with both adolescence and youth; you are still physically maturing, but you have the desire to do things independently.
It is also interesting how different societies view and interact with those in their adolescence phase. For example, “…tribes of tropical Brazil, and some peoples elsewhere, seclude their postpubertal children for several years, seeing this as necessary for proper growth” (Schlegel 1995:17). Perhaps this seclusion could be seen as the adults in the society activating their own version of Erikson’s crises within their youth (Erikson 1994 [1959]:56).
Speaking of crises, Erikson’s whole argument in his article is that crises are necessary situations to live through in order to emerge out of adolescence (Erikson 1994 [1959]); these are key developmental life stages. Another developmental aspect would be the increased sense of freedom that youth experience, which gives them time to have new experiences and experiment with different curiosities. The identity of youth is a critical developmental point as well, “…young people…are now primarily concerned with attempts at consolidating their social roles…preoccupied with what they appear to be in the eyes of others as compared to what they feel they are” (Erikson 1994 [1959]:94).
Even though Erikson focuses on males in this piece, this situation can be applied to a number of societies, as young people might compare themselves to others or try out new things in order to gain a sense of identity during this time. We have discussed the topic of identity and how it is constructed by outside social situations, which then turn into crises. The concern in regards to how socially acceptable we appear to be in society is also emphasized in the discussion (Class Notes September 7, 2016).
Section 2/Question 1: How do different social situations shape adolescence as a life stage for young people?
The social education/enculturation that a young person receives, especially at such a critical age, can shape adolescence. Through the example of childhood games, boys and girls learn about social behaviors that are expected of them, like competition and negotiation, respectively, in real life scenarios (Gilligan 1993 [1982]: 9-11). This is the playground in which the youth will test, learn, and internalize these gendered behaviors and roles, which can have a tremendous long-term effect on youth who will later transition to adulthood. These behaviors can become generational, which has the potentiality and power to shape the youth of an entire society.
While on the topic of gender, the gender bias in psychology also reinforces the notion that women are deviant, “After trying to fit women into his masculine conception…he came instead to acknowledge… a developmental difference. He considered this difference… to be responsible for what he saw as women’s developmental failure” (Gilligan 1993[1982]: 6-7). This situation is one that takes place in the scientific world, which can be precarious, as what you say in this environment will be taken as gospel truth by the public. Adolescence, with girls in particular, can be burdened with social expectations that are seemingly supported, or purported, by science.
Section 2/Question 2: How are youth constrained by structural forces and in what ways do they have agency?
Despite youth not always having complete control over the structural powers that be, this does not mean that youth cannot do something about it. For example, the youth in Dakar are actively changing the economic landscape of their city, “…youth clothing practices keep the urban economy in motion and the city hooked into a global economy” (Scheld 2007: 233). They are regaining agency in the form of creating a new market and becoming entrepreneurial business people.
In Indonesia, the youth are changing the structural forces by way of language. Bahasa gaul has been established as a hip cosmopolitan language, whereas the structured/formal Indonesian language is seen by the youth as “stiff… and ‘soulless,’… too impersonal and humorless to ever function as a language of everyday, social life… an official voice of the bureaucracy and political elite…” (Smith-Hefner 2007:186). Their agency is regained through influencing others to speak their dialect and incorporating English words into their lexicon. Through transcending their geographical identity, they have formed their own definition of “becoming a person” (Class Notes, September 28, 2016).
References Cited
Erikson, Erik. H 1994 [1959]. Chapter 2: Growth and Crisis of the Healthy Personality. In Identity and the Life Cycle. Pp. 51-107. W.W. Norton & Company: New York.
Gilligan, Carol. 1993 [1982] Chapter 1: Woman’s Place in a Man’s Life Cycle. In In a Different Voice. Harvard University Press: Cambridge Pp. 5-23.
Scheld, Suzanne. 2007. Youth Cosmopolitanism: Clothing, the City and Globalization in Dakar, Senegal. City & Society 19(2): 232-53.
Schlegel, Alice. 1995. Cross Cultural Approaches to Adolescence. Ethos 23(1): 15-32.
Smith-Hefner, Nancy J. 2007. Youth Language, Gaul Sociability, and the New Indonesian Middle Class. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 17(2): 184-203.
