Postwar prosperity prompted adolescents to reject phoniness and seek meaning
Evidence
After the war, many people had settled into as peaceful a life as they could manage, recognising the value of a steady job and a house in the suburbs with greenery and fresh air. Some veterans found it hard to adjust, but many wanted only to enjoy what was good in the world. Their children grew up with the benefits of this, but then, entering adolescence, wondered whether there was more to life than mowing the lawn and waving to the neighbours. … When they read J. D. Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, they decided that, like its hero Holden Caulfield, the one thing they did not want to be was phony. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 890
Categorization
- XREF: Resonates with the wider mid-century ‘authenticity’ turn discussed in later existentialist historiography and in debates over the counterculture as a revolt against comfort. — connects to: Youth values the process of life while adults cling to its objective forms — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 854; Postmodernism discourse expresses a generation’s disillusionment rather than describing reality. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 625; Identity crisis makes adolescents susceptible to totalistic ideological groups — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4120 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Identity crisis makes adolescents susceptible to totalistic ideological groups
#expands(0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4120 - Youth values the process of life while adults cling to its objective forms
#expands(0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 854 - Youth revolts in style predate postwar consumer culture and carry racial politics
#complicates(0.75) - Postmodernism discourse expresses a generation’s disillusionment rather than describing reality.
#expands(0.72) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 625