Suchergebnisse

The "generation gap" between youth and adults in contemporary American society reflects a real and serious conflict of interest rather than mutual misunderstanding. In an open, bureaucratic society, sanctions against nepotism and the attrition of property through inheritance taxes lessen the utility of each generation to the other: the young cannot suc ceed. Youth, moreover, is a discriminated-against minority in America—more seriously so than any ethnic minority. It is excluded from economic opportunity, and is seriously exploited by being forced to supply, as members of the Armed Forces, its services at a fraction of their market value. School atten dance is less obviously exploitive, but is as much a forced sub sidy of the social and economic system by the young as "an opportunity to invest in the future." Compulsory school at tendance, the juvenile court system, and the Selective Service System all operate as serious, age-graded constraints from which adults are exempt—these constraints, indeed, define youth as a social role. Informal and often abusive constraint by schools and law-enforcement officials exacerbate the conflict. The humiliation of, particularly, youth from the upper-middle and upper classes, especially those prone to dissent, is functional in preventing the disruption of a democratic society by the hostili ties of the "lumpenbourgeoisie."

The 'generation gap' between youth & adults in contemporary US society reflects a real & serious conflict of interest rather than mutual misunderstanding. In an open, bur'tic society, sanctions against nepotism & the attrition of property through inheritance taxes lessen the utility of each generation to the other: the young cannot succeed. Youth, moreover, is a discriminated-against minority in the US-more seriously so than any ethnic minority. It is excluded from econ opportunity, & is seriously exploited by being forced to supply as members of the Armed Forces, its services at a fraction of their market value. Sch attendance is less obviously exploitive, but is as much a forced subsidy of the soc & econ system by the young as 'an opportunity to invest in the future.' Compulsory Sch attendance, the juvenile court system, & the Selective Service System all operate as serious, age-graded constraints from which adults are exempt-these constraints, indeed, define youth as a soc role. Informal & often abusive constraint by Sch's & law-enforcement officials exacerbate the conflict. The humiliation of, particularly, youth from the UMc's & Uc's, esp those prone to dissent, is functional in preventing the disruption of a democratic society by the hostilities of the 'lumpenbourgeoisie.' HA.

Truth is sometimes thought to be primarily an aspect of inner experience unique & essentially incommunicable or thought to lie in consensus & to consist of what all honest & technically qualified observers can agree on. The subjective approach appears to be more congenial to the extreme SC's, both Uc & Lc, while objectivity is more Ply the posture congenial to members of the Mc. Empiricism, indeed sci itself, is essentially Mc. The growth of sci is inconceivable apart from the simultaneous rise of a Me able to profit by progress & of fiscal & gov'al institutions able to insure the material future well enough to encourage investment. The shift toward empirical dominance has been a soc, pol'al, technological one. It has led into positions of mastery those who have most effectively committed themselves to an empirical posture toward all experience - who have either silenced their inner voice or taught it, when a choice must be made, to defer to the facts & to the kind of reality which can be treated factually. Much that we call anti-intellectualism in the modern world is anti-subjectivism. What is feared & avoided is really the intellectual activity of humanists who still depend to some extent on internal validation to give them confidence in what they say. The Lc individual today does not usually have enough sense of the stable properties of life to temper his subjectivity. Unlike the Mc man he can still listen to his inner voice & he knows no better source of truth. He has no basis for telling when it is talking nonsense. Educ would help with this, but we have no Lc educ - only a system by which Lc youngsters who want to can be admitted to the LMc Sch's. Lc truth is likely to remain even in adulthood quite purely idiotic. Like Uc truth, it is essentially subjective, but it is much weaker in its sense of time. Above all, it is deficient in symbols so that there are almost no possibilities of abstraction. There is hope in the growing Me tencency to insist on more variety & on uniqueness. V.D. Sanua.