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Originally Posted by Genteel Death

i'd like to find out what you mean by social attitudes first.

well let's see. among the romans, girls were married right after puberty, men were usually older. many centuries later, rousseau and other people invented childhood. a special category of people-- not little adults but smething else. still, childhood more or less ended at around 13 (the age when a jewish boy does his bar mitzvah for example). in the middle of the 20th century childhood started becoming this protracted thing that seemingly never ends:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/317267

at the same time, since the 60s r probably 50s the availability of money in the hand of adolescents in the developed world has created the so-called "youth-rebellion" movements which are a form of channelling consumerism in the search of "freedom" among various products.

so we have the progressive infantilization of adolescents at the same time that adolescents demand adult rights.

which produces a very funny conflict for which i have no answers.

all i notice is that american colleges have become these day care centers for overgrown children and some people never turn into actual adults.

protect the children! but, fuckit, for how ever long?

here a funny book review:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critic..._books_kolbert

social attitudes: who is a child, who is an adult, how do we deal with the space in-between?