From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sun 6/18/2006 2:28 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: (SAPIENTIA) Daily Wisdom (259)
DAILY WISDOM (259)
For the first time in history the modern teenager no longer has to figure out as an individual how he or she can be accepted into the power-world of the adults. From puberty onwards, the teenager is now part of a vast army of contemporaries and is increasingly opting out of direct control by parents, teachers and elders. Max Lerner (1902-92) was one of the first to catch onto the unique social change that has taken place over the last two generations in the developed countries. What have been the reasons for this? There have been many, but the most important one without a doubt has been the telephone. More recently, the mobile phone has been the most ubiquitous consumer product of all time among the young. There are still formidable social, institutional and educational barriers erected by adults against too ready access by the young but now the former are facing a highly-informed network rather than a collection of individuals. Wherever possible, the young will circumvent, rather than trying to satisfy, confront or overcome, the world of adults. The young have always been the creators of the arts, scientific discovery and new business. They are probably now poised to do the same in the political and military worlds. As the first sign of this, the intelligent young no longer join political parties as they used to or are willing to be recruited into the armed forces. Working for, or fighting for, causes promulgated by their elders no longer appeals. The young will no doubt erect their own new institutions when they grow older and achieve power themselves but, as in the arts, science and business, the new institutions of power are going to be much more diverse and specialised than any of the monolithic and increasingly inept hierarchies that characterise the modern nation-state today.
"Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teenagers, and by their suffrage they stand or fall."
Max Lerner, "Teen-ager", New York Post (1952)[The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations]
For the first time in history the modern teenager no longer has to figure out as an individual how he or she can be accepted into the power-world of the adults. From puberty onwards, the teenager is now part of a vast army of contemporaries and is increasingly opting out of direct control by parents, teachers and elders. Max Lerner (1902-92) was one of the first to catch onto the unique social change that has taken place over the last two generations in the developed countries. What have been the reasons for this? There have been many, but the most important one without a doubt has been the telephone. More recently, the mobile phone has been the most ubiquitous consumer product of all time among the young. There are still formidable social, institutional and educational barriers erected by adults against too ready access by the young but now the former are facing a highly-informed network rather than a collection of individuals. Wherever possible, the young will circumvent, rather than trying to satisfy, confront or overcome, the world of adults. The young have always been the creators of the arts, scientific discovery and new business. They are probably now poised to do the same in the political and military worlds. As the first sign of this, the intelligent young no longer join political parties as they used to or are willing to be recruited into the armed forces. Working for, or fighting for, causes promulgated by their elders no longer appeals. The young will no doubt erect their own new institutions when they grow older and achieve power themselves but, as in the arts, science and business, the new institutions of power are going to be much more diverse and specialised than any of the monolithic and increasingly inept hierarchies that characterise the modern nation-state today.
"Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teenagers, and by their suffrage they stand or fall."
Max Lerner, "Teen-ager", New York Post (1952)[The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations]
Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>
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