The Road to Whatever Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence
, by Currie, ElliottNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780805080001 | 0805080007
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 12/27/2005
An 'energetic,' 'provocative,' and 'much-needed' investigation of the root causes of the epidemic of drug abuse, violence, and despair among middle-class American teenagers (Los Angeles Times) In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed sociologist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elliott Currie draws on years of interviews to offer a profound investigation of what has gone wrong for so many 'mainstream' American adolescents. Rejecting such predictable answers as TV violence, permissiveness, and inherent evil, Currie links this crisis to a pervasive 'culture of exclusion' fostered by a society in which medications trump guidance and a punitive 'zero tolerance' approach to adolescent misbehavior has become the norm. Broadening his inquiry, he dissects the changes in middle-class life that stratify the world into 'winners' and 'losers,' imposing an extraordinarily harsh culture-and not just on kids. Vivid, compelling, and deeply empathetic, The Road to Whatever is a stark indictment of a society that has lost the will-or the capacity-to care.'Convincing . . . Currie's argument is just about airtight.'-The Washington Post'Vivid . . . this book will worry you and make you think hard about the collapse of a caring environment in America.'-Frances Fox Piven