An excellent book which traces the blurring of distinctions between childhood and adulthood in contemporary society.

It starts out with an overview of childhood. leading to a discussion of how the concept of the teenager is a relatively recent development.

Booth Tarkington's novel Seventeen was the first that dealt with teenagers specifically, but even then teenage years weren't seen as a separate period but more as a transition period where the aspiration was to become an adult. The main character's goal in the book was to borrow his dad's tuxedo -- a symbol of adulthood -- to impress a girl.

West pinpoints the beginning of the concept of "teen years" as a state distinct and separate from childhood and adulthood to the period just after WWII. Eventually, this emphasis leads to the elevation of the teenager years to a desired status, where before becoming an adult was the goal. By the fifties, being and acting like a teenager is a goal unto itself.

Which then leads to the wish to live in the teen period as long as possible, leading to a blurring of the lines between childhood/teen/adult behavior. That is, children who are encouraged by their peers (and advertising) to behave as teens at younger and younger ages. The slutty dress, acting out of sexual behavior, knowledge beyond their years.

What the book doesn't mention that I think is a factor also, is all the hormones that have been pumped into meat. It is common now for girls as young as 9 to begin developing prematurely. I'm not sure if something similar is happening with boys. The media don't seem inclined to report on it and everybody seems pretty unconcerned. I guess since they're already being pushed to sophistication, that their bodies are being pushed also by chemicals doesn't seem to matter.

To get back to the book, this same elevation of the teen years leads to the wish to remain in it for as long as possible. We're seeing "adults" in their twenties and even thirties who wish to avoid responsibility, to play and have fun over settling down, working on a career and, most important, parenting.

Since many people start their childbearing years in their late teens and twenties, we're getting parents who don't want to parent. That, coupled with the children who are expected to be preternaturally sophisticated, means we're getting people of all ages who engage in adult pastimes without the judgement or common sense to handle it.

The book goes on to trace how our lack of responsibility leads to a breakdown of boundaries, continual lowering of standards of decency and behavior. No sense of shame or knowledge of what is inappropriate. "Who are we to say X is bad" or immoral or wrong. With relativism, no type of behavior is better or worse than any other type of behavior.

This has lead naturally to cultural leveling (IE, no culture is better than any other culture) has lead to a loss of cultural identity. It's our biggest handicap when dealing with the Islamic threat. Since they know what they believe and we don't, we're at a disadvantage when it comes to fighting them.

To quote from the book:

There is a hollowness to the whole enterprise that is embodied by the captain's relativism, a barren chamber where the empty slogan "war on terror" echoes on without meaning. That is, terror is a tactic. You don't make war on a tactic, you make war on the people that use it. Imagine if FDR had declared "the war on sneak attack" or the "war on blitzkrieg." It doesn't make sense and neither does "war on terror." And not only does it not make sense, it also uncovers our biggest handicap going in: that perilous lack of cultural confidence, that empty core at our heart. Where an empty core has nothing with which to refute the absurdity of Bush=Hitler, an empty core has nothing with which to define "a war on terror." Who are we to say . . . who we are fighting . . . and why? p.143

Unfortunately, the book doesn't give much in the way of solutions. There are still plenty of people, I think, who become adults, even if it is later in life. But are there enough of them? And if adulthood is postponed until after 30, will they be too late to make a significant difference? Will there be enough people willing to to turn things around?