Society has been mass-producing young males, who, like Dean's character, are angry, frustrated, resentful, often abusing alcohol or using drugs, and unable to communicate their pain to anyone. Meanwhile, America has witnessed the meltdown of the traditional family. Since 1960, the percentage of all families headed by a single parent has more than tripled, and 90 percent of all single-parent homes are homes without a father. The connection between such homes and social pathology is inescapable. Sex-role problems abound.
Boys exhibit either low masculinity or exaggeratedly masculine conduct.
Anthropological studies of 250 cultures have confirmed the enduring nature of these differences. Yet feminism has convinced enough people to think otherwise, thus hastening the decline of fatherhood as an active, ongoing pursuit among males. The irreplaceability of the father was surely not a tenet of those who designed the welfare system. The requirements for women to be eligible for benefits having children but no husband point to a philosophy which says that men aren't needed to raise children properly. Without a Cause ends tragically but hopefully.