Reflections on the Dissent of Contemporary Youth

It is attempted to clarify the emotional roots of youthful dissent from a psychoanalytic point of view. In every individual, it is stated, & in every generation, there is a potential for 'intensified adolescence.' The potential has become esp aroused in our time because the contradictions are greater than at other times: while more young people are better informed & share a common imagery of mass COMM, they are exposed to the daily vagaries of technological, legal & bur'tic complexities. Out of the combined revolutions of the oppressed & the repressed, of the proletarians, the unarmed, & the mental sufferers, there seems to have emerged a revolt of the dependent. This revolt directly challenges all those existing instit's that monopolize the admissions procedures to the main body of society. The legitimacy of violence has become the greatest single issue in the ideological struggle of youth today. Moral learning is viewed as an aspect of childhood; ideological exp'tion as a part of adolescence; & ethical consolidation as an adult task. The ethical orientation which emerges out of militant student protests is considered premoral & amoral, deriving from the early stages of childhood (anal). It is stated that 'group retrogressions originate in the incapacity or the refusal to conclude the stage of identity on the terms offered by the adult world.' The future will force on young adults the responsibility of being their younger brothers' & sisters' keepers. It may well be that some of the confrontations in actuality which rebellious youth insist upon, & the inner confrontation which has been discussed, are highlighting the inner & outer consequences of patriarchal moralism & the present necessity for a worldwide new ethics supported by the informed choices of young men & young women. M. Maxfield.