History 476

Devine

Spring 2016

 

Juvenile Delinquency Study Questions

 

James Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage, pp. 3-23

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. Why was antagonism toward mass culture during the 1950s both old and new?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. How were anxieties about the breakdown of family bonds related to concerns about the negative effects of mass media?

 

  1. 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”?

 

  1. What was the three-stage process of public reaction to the new “youth” of the 1950s?

 

  1. 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)

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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”

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. Why did comic books as a medium draw such negative publicity?  What were some of the specific criticisms leveled against comic books?

 

  1. How did the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s emphasis on social-psychological theories lead to his attack on comic books?

 

  1. What arguments did Wertham make against comic books?  What were some of the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. What was the significance of the Supreme Court Case Winters v. New York?

 

  1. Why does the author argue that Wertham was wise to understate his view that the consumer economy caused juvenile delinquency?

 

 

Palladino, Teenagers – Chapter 6

 

  1. 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”?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?