Description
Kenneth Keniston published this landmark work in 1965, just as a massive wave of alienation was building against societal norms. This work targets both the serious reader of popular works, as well as the students in the field. The work is divided into two parts: alienated youth, and alienating society. He combines sociological theory buttressed by ample case histories. Our age inspires scant enthusiasm. How much truer is that today? In terms of the latest gadget even then, he opines: …that our society accomplishments may have outrun its purposes, leaving us with outlived and outworn values. In his case studies, he notes one youth who would like to be a creative writer, and as a second choice, to be a dairy farmer in Vermont. Commitment is defined as submission. In terms of society as a whole, its members experience life as discrete and separate phases, like quantum jumps, rather than a more continuous historical experience. the author states that it is now the dystopias of the Brave New World and 1984 that haunt our nights. In terms of formal education, his dyspeptic view would resonant well with Paul Goodman: …we assume, quite rightly, that someone who can put up with twelve, sixteen, or twenty-one years of education is likely to be able to put up with the demands of most jobs. The author distinguishes between those who cannot meet the demands of their society, and those that choose not to meet them. He concludes with a look at the watersheds that are formed in historical development, specifically citing the American Civil War, when the nation moved from a predominantly agricultural society to an industrial one. He posits the possibility of transcending the current technological trends, and developing a far more human and committed society.
