The teenagers of 1955 expected to dedicate themselves to a job in a large, intricately managed corporation, and they expected their employer to dedicate itself to their well-being in return. There is, on the one hand, the teen culture that adults see when they target the problems of youth. Since the elderly represent the future of individuals, while young people represent the future of society, it would be hard to find more compelling evidence of the creeping self-interestedness at the heart of American politics. Males ruefully notes that this antipathy to the young is driven by ideology, not by actual upturns in youth violence or drug abuse. If we were more alert to this dimension of teen culture, we might see that those baggy-jeaned rappers, those spraycan crews, are not the problem but rather the makings of the solution.
Subcultures are the proving-grounds of extracurricular education.
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