History 476
Devine
Spring 2016
Juvenile Delinquency Study
Questions
James Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage, pp. 3-23
- After World War II, many Americans
theorized a direct connection between mass media and the increase in
juvenile delinquency. How did they explain this connection? Why
was mass media to blame?
- Why was antagonism toward mass culture
during the 1950s both old and new?
- Why does Gilbert call the “seduction
of the innocent by culture” an “episodic notion”? What part does adults’ uneasiness with
and resistance to cultural change play in convincing them that culture is
corrupting young people?
- Gilbert argues that American society
was becoming more democratic during the 1950s. Average people (and particularly young
people) had more autonomy to shape the kind of popular culture they wished
to consume. Why did this bother both radicals on the left and cultural
conservatives? Why does Gilbert say that the controversy over mass culture
was really an argument about power?
- How were anxieties about the breakdown
of family bonds related to concerns about the negative effects of mass
media?
- What was the central argument of the
psychiatrist Fredric Wertham? Why did it win popular support during
the late 1940s and 1950s? What
conditions of that historical period made Wertham’s
arguments particularly “seductive”?
- What was the three-stage process of
public reaction to the new “youth” of the 1950s?
- How did teenage behavior change
between World War II and the 1960s?
Why did adults consider the teens “remarkably hostile or even
criminally inclined”? (p. 17)
- Why were large comprehensive high
schools the focus of middle class adults’ concerns during the 1950s? How
did high schools provide both a venue for training in traditional
values and a venue for the undermining of those values?
- The literary critic Leslie Fiedler
remarked, “The problem posed by popular culture is finally, then, a
problem of class distinction in a democratic society.” What does Fiedler mean? How were issues of class related to concerns about popular culture?
- How did postwar prosperity and
“adolescent consumerism” fuel the generation gap? What aspects of
teenagers’ behavior convinced some adults that teens were were creating a “premature adult culture”?
Bradford Wright, “Youth Crisis: Comic Books
and Controversy, 1947-1950”
- The author argues that the attack on
comic books masked larger and more complex concerns confronting Americans
after World War II. What were some
of these concerns?
- What factors set the comic book
controversy apart from previous attacks on popular culture as the
“corruptor” of youth? What role did
World War II play in fueling concerns about mass media and juvenile
delinquency?
- Why did comic books as a medium draw
such negative publicity? What were
some of the specific criticisms leveled against comic books?
- How did the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s emphasis on social-psychological theories
lead to his attack on comic books?
- What arguments did Wertham
make against comic books? What were
some of the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments?
- Why were Wertham and the grassroots anti-comic book
crusaders an odd match? How did the
“elitist” critique of the comics differ from the criticisms of more
conservative institutions like the Catholic church?
- What was the significance of the
Supreme Court Case Winters v. New York?
- Why does the author argue that Wertham was wise to understate his view that the
consumer economy caused juvenile delinquency?
Palladino,
Teenagers – Chapter 6
- How did adult perceptions of teenage
behavior help spark rising concerns about “juvenile delinquency”? If teens weren’t necessarily engaging in
criminal behavior, why did many adults still consider them “delinquent”?
- According to adults at the time, who or
what was to blame for juvenile delinquency? What steps did adults take to curb
delinquency? How did teens react?
- How did Mark McCloskey of the Office
of Community War Services (OCWS) bring a new approach to dealing with
juvenile delinquency? What did
McCloskey think caused delinquency?
How did he propose to deal with the problem?
- How were “teen canteens” a departure
from traditional adult-sanctioned forms of recreation? Why were most teens and adults
comfortable with the structure and operation of the teen canteens?
- What messages did the newly founded Seventeen magazine convey to the
younger generation? Why did Seventeen prove more effective at
influencing teenagers that previous adult-driven efforts to shape youth?
- Given his priorities, why might Mark
McCloskey have been disappointed with the teenagers that emerged from the
Second World War? How did their
interests and priorities differ from his?