Summary Of A Cycle Of Outrage By James Gilbert

In James Gilbert’s book, A Cycle of Outrage - America’s Reaction to the Juvenile Delinquent in the 1950’s, he cites examples of why Americans were “puzzled and distressed by the activities of postwar teenagers.” In an excerpt from his book, he describes that the increased worry about the changing culture of American teenagers is partly due to the rise in technology during the 1950’s (12). Unlike in the past, teenagers were able to rapidly shift their speech, fashion, taste in music, and overall attitude in a uniform manner due to access to mass media. As technology was on the rise, so was the number of students attending high schools. () This, in turn, allowed for even more solidarity amongst the teenage population. Due to this united front,

Gilbert states that many believed “the very creative energy that welled up in rock and roll, new words, fashions, and customs threatened the stability of American society” (15). On the other hand, many Americans saw the expression of independence from their parents, as a common and traditional trend for teenagers throughout history. Although, this did not stop older generations from pinpointing specific changes in culture to be of “delinquent characteristics” (). To start, one reason why older generations were cautious towards the teenage population was due to the recognition in their “impact on the shaping of American popular culture” (13). Specifically, Cosmopolitan recorded in one of their issues that, “we’ve stopped trying to teach them how to live. Instead, we’re asking them how they think we should live” (13). This is extremely important because it solidified to the older

After World War II, education saw a shift in attendance where social classes and race had the opportunity to merge under the same facility. This facility was known as the public high school. By consolidating the upper, middle, and lower class, it allowed for trends to have uniformity no matter what their economic limitations were (19). This, along with media, was a central determinant of “youth culture values” (19). Such uniformity, spread to other outlets such as relationship dynamics, athletic prowess, social skills, and rise in extracurricular programs like fraternities, clubs, and even gangs (19). For example, one of the many concerns older generations had about teenage culture was in regards to their acceptance and practice of “early marriage and changes in premarital sex mores” (20). Gilbert points out that although the average age for marriage did not change drastically, it still declined and therefore, provided evidence for the shift in relationship dynamics amongst teenagers (21). Although, what seemed to worry older generations even more was the prevalence of premarital sex. For Americans, this was of extreme concern because they believed that it would have “dire physical and mental effects,” even though they had no evidence to support their claim (21-22). Overall, even though older